Journies of the Brave
by wsfrkrf64
Summary: my first try at this, pleze review, last chapter is posted, please let me know if i should continue the story cause i got some GOOD IDEAS
1. Dreams of the Brave

A cold, blustery wind was blowing across the wide plain of imagination. He opened his eyes to discover children playing and dancing around him. Their laughter rang out into the nothingness around him. Ringing at his ears, loud yet soothing as they tossed a small ball back and forth. The ball rolled his way, a small inscription of a kitten on one side of it. He reached for it only to have sink through the ground. He looked up as the children's laughter became more high pitched only to see them do the same as their kitten ball.   
  
He raised himself off the ground to find that there was no ground. Only a dark void of silence, raking at his sanity. He walked as steadily as he could muster. All the way up to a building he could've swore wasn't there a second ago. He was vaguely away of a strangely familiar smell as he awed at the size of this very familiar palace he used to call home. The monstrous white home was a sight to behold as the doorknob was growing to his size and greater. He staggered inside, now intoxicated by the now overwhelming smell of something diseased. He now tripped over his own feet to get to the source of the smell. Stronger and stronger it got, he was not far from vomiting at this point. He saw the children again, now welcoming him to a door with no knob near the end of the hallway. They threw the ball at the door and it became the knob that hadn't been their. His senses were screaming at him to run, yet the smell, however terrible, had a seductive taste to it. Drawing closer, the door opened itself and there, among tangled sheets of the large pink bed lay a women. He remembered this women from somewhere, somewhere long lost to his senses. Suddenly, he remembered her name. The mere thought of the deceased women's name brought on tears of woe and sadness. The name of mother.  
  
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Knucks woke up in a cold sweat. He looked around, dumbstruck as to were he was. He quickly remembered The bar he had entered, the beer that he drank, the sleep that toke him in the middle of a drink. Beer now covered his sweat pants and part of his shirt. He had a pounding head ache and the screaming laughter of the drunk couple next to him wasn't helping. He could barely make out in the dim light that the overweight bartender was now feeling up a cocktail waitress, the "band" had fallen to sleep with no instruments in sight, and that screaming couple had now started pushing each other into the cheap wooden tables. The impending feeling that a brawl would soon be breaking out forced Knucks to get up and out before such happened.  
  
He tied his belongings around his shoulder, made his way past another, more " friendly" couple, and headed for the mountains. Okiyama was now boring to him, but he had heard of rumors of a great master in the mountains. He decided that he would scope out this master of the sword to see if he was indeed a master. The smell of beer still filled his nostrils from either the drunken madhouse or the beer he was covered in. He would've changed before he left, but he had nothing to change into but yesterdays clothes. Two outfits, a little money, a chipped sword and a pouch were all the supplies he had with him. His sword had always been his skill point. He had much training with it as a young child. The lessons had come in handy when he needed money, winning small back alley tournaments where if you swung your sword wrong, you could hit an array of objects from a stringy cat to a mangy, drunk, onlooker.  
  
He passed out of the city and started his trek to the sword master. Excitement ran through him as he thought of the challenge he could have against this master. He took in a big whiff of the full-moon night and almost choked. He would definitely have to find a stream to wash in before he embarrassed himself. 


	2. Introductions of the Brave

A splash of natural blue water scared some animals away from their food. As Knucks tried to wash away the stench he had to endure for twelve long hours. He silently cursed himself for spilling beer on him in the first place. Then he cursed his own ignorance at rushing out of town without knowing exactly where he was going. He had expected to be there by this very morning. Instead, he had to settle for wandering around the mountain side, ignoring the smell while hearing the world. All he had accomplished was to find a river and finally relieve himself of the now sickening smell.  
  
He finished his bath and started to gather himself for another game of find the needle in the mountain. He gathered his things and climbed a tree to get his bearings. He noticed a small structure to the north so he decided to give it a try. Luckily, the rains that had plagued the area for most of the week had moved out. It was now a bright, comfortable day or, aside from muddy grounds, perfect. An injured deer blocked part of his path. Half of it's body was lying in the brush near the dirt road, probably hiding in fear. He was pressed for time, but found himself unable to leave the animal for dead. He brushed some dirt off the wound to see a bite mark from some wild beast on it's leg. He tried to pet the deer's head while he fixed the leg, only to find everything from the waist up missing all remnants of muscle or flesh. It was now that the familiar scent hit him. The scent from his dreams, and nightmares. The scent of death drove him to his feet and drove him to scramble away from the massacred body. The image of a an eyeless stare that pierced and scared his mind for the rest of the day.   
  
  
  
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Knucks finally shook the gruesome image away around dusk. It had reminded him so much of his nightmares that he almost took the deer skull for the head of his dead mother.   
  
He shook that train of thoughts away in a hurry as he heard a branch snap behind him. He spun around to see a bright red sword ready to make him look exactly like that deer had if he made the wrong move. He tried to comprehend how this cute girl had snuck up on him in such deep woods. She was about 5'9 or so, had beautiful cyan hair, and yellow tiger like eyes.\  
  
" Drop the stuff. Now!" It appeared that her looks were just a trap door above a spike pit. He lowered his clothes to the ground and made a grab for his sword. She let him believe that he had a shot to hit her before she sliced his sword in two.   
  
' That piece of crap sword!' He thought silently to himself as she aimed her sword at him again, but this time, she wore a mile wide grin on her face.  
  
" Next time, threaten me with more than just a metal toothpick. Now move forward." That remark was not to far from the truth.  
  
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She lead him to a large, white, two story building with glass paneling on one corner, a balcony and sliding wooden doors which were open to a few onlookers. All this in front of a large beautiful lake with a large tree growing near the middle of the shimmering water. The entire place made him feel at peace, even under the circumstances. She walked over to another girl, 5'8 give or take, long purple hair, a weird looking robe on and a very dignified and royal look on her beautiful face.  
  
While they were talking, or screaming, to each other, yet another girl emerged from the house. This one was still a child, maybe ten or twelve at most. She had green pigtails and the same type of weird robe, but with different colors, as the older one. She also had three very strange marks on her forehead, he guessed them to be birth marks. Behind her was a boy, about Knucks' own age of 17, not as well built as Knucks but still had some muscle. Black hair and a pair of puppy dog eyes, he could tell he was a softie.  
  
After a short conversation with the girls, he walked towards Knucks with a smile on his face.   
  
" Sorry about the wait and all. We wanted to ask you were you came from?" Knucks was positive that he could take this guy and get away. Yet, he felt kind of anxious to talk to someone for the first time in a while. " My name is Tenchi by the way." He extended his hand in friendship.  
  
" Just call me Knucks." he shook Tenchi's hand. " I come from the city to find a sword master that lives up here. Do you happen to know him?" Tenchi just stared at him blankly trying to gather in what the question. The light bulb in his head finally clicked on.  
  
" You must be talking about Grampa. He's the only sword fighter I know of that lives up here." Knucks visibly became happier upon hearing this news. " If you would like to, you could stay here for the night and then talk with him in the morning. What do ya say girls?" Knucks turned towards the girls in anticipation.   
  
" Yeah! Let's keep him!" He chuckled when he heard the little girl talk to him. " My name is Sasami. Pleased to meet ya."  
  
" Now Sasami we know nothing about this stranger . We should at least interrogate him first." This made a large bead of sweat run down his forehead. " I could use persuasive words to make him talk and then violence." This made him laugh. He found the one who had captured him doing the same.  
  
" Ayeka please keep the stupid talk to a minimum. We have company." He found that he hadn't stopped smiling since he first heard little Sasami talk. He was going to like it here 


	3. Friendships of the Brave

Knucks awoke the next morning to a duet of birds, whistling their sweet song. A ray of sunshine lit up his vision as he attempted to open his eyes. With a groan, he stretched the morning dreariness away. Except, with a glance at the clock, he realized that it was one o clock. He was scarcely surprised as he hadn't slept in a real bed for over a year and his body definitely yearned for it. He just lay there, pondering last nights events. Tenchi and him had gotten to know each other a little more. He had asked him of the history of him and the girls, and asked which one he was currently with. Surprisingly, he just blushed and explained that he was with none. I couldn't believe that he lived in a house full of women and had not even dated a single one! Tenchi got a break as a girl Knucks hadn't seen before walked, or tripped rather, towards us. She was a good 5'9 or 5'10, blonde hair, blue eyes, and the most innocent look on her face that he had no choice but to laugh when she tripped over her own feet. Tenchi had introduced her as Mihoshi, obviously trying to suppress a fit of laughter himself. Another new girl walked up and yelled at Mihoshi for wrecking an experiment or something. This one was only about 5'0 or so, long red hair, big green eyes and a scientific look to her. She had introduced herself as " The greatest scientific genius in the universe!!" Tenchi just called her Washu. The most surprising fact was that not a single one of them were from this planet. They all came from different corners of the universe, just like him.  
  
He shook away the memory as he remembered the reason that he was here. This Grampa had to be the master. Knucks hopped up and started to stretch for the duel that was to commence. He had enjoyed his stay here, a lot in fact. It pained him when he thought of leaving, but why would they want him to stay? After the duel, he was going to be on his own again with nothing and nobody to keep him company but the town drunk.  
  
He opened his door and walked to the stair only to stop dead in his tracks as he heard his name mentioned in the living room below.  
  
" Knucks is really not that bad a guy Ayeka. You didn't even talk to him. Give him a chance." Knucks heard Tenchi's voice and was curious at to where this conversation was going.  
  
" Well luckily, he will be leaving after he has his little duel with your grandfather."   
  
" Come on Ayeka! I saw you giving him the eye all last night. You've got the hots for him but you're to afraid to say it!" Knucks couldn't help but blush at that comment. He peeked around the corner and saw that Ayeka was doing the same, from anger of embarrassment.   
  
" Ryoko! You improper, devilish, evil, demon women you!" Ayeka had blown her stack. She was going off on Ryoko as Ryoko just floated in front of her looking bored.  
  
" You ain't to bad yourself princess. Quit whining!" Knucks was keeping his laughter to a minimum, if he could.   
  
" No fighting you two or there will be no lunch!" Little Sasami obviously had some power being the gourmet cook of the house. He had her dinner last night and couldn't get enough of it. He had stolen half of Tenchi's while he was talking to Ayeka. Another reason he loved this place.  
  
He had heard enough to get his laugh for the week so he walked down the stairs to get the duel over with. He was no longer excited, instead he was nervous. Until of course he looked up at the girls fighting over a small cookie.  
  
  
  
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After bidding his good mornings, and good byes, he followed Tenchi to the sword master. While on the seemingly endless staircase to a shrine, Knucks took time to marvel at the beauty of the surrounding trees. There were trees on either side of the stair case, tall looking trees with vibrant, fall like, colors that made him feel at peace. The wind ruffled a few fallen leaves as blew them into a mini-tornado, a swirl of vibrant colors twisting and flying through air only to settle back down or blown away to some distant land. He was snapped away from the colors as he saw him. The sword master was an old fellow with a pony tail and glasses. Not very intimidating, yet there was an unmistakable aura of power around him. This made Knucks nervous again. Tenchi whispered something to him before the master approached Knucks. He looked him over and then asked , " You want a duel yet you have no sword." Knucks froze as he remembered that his sword had been cut in two by Ryoko.   
  
" Yes, I guess that does complicate thing." Knucks would've rather walked up to him smelling like beer than not having his sword.   
  
" I'm sorry then because we cannot duel. I would like to ask you though, are you serious about sword fighting?"   
  
Knucks answered immediately, " Yes I am. I have done it for most of my life. My mother sent me to train with the best sword fighters in the universe for 8 years."   
  
" Well in that case, why don't you stay here and train with Tenchi and I. Tenchi could use a sparring partner. What do you think?" Knucks could hardly contain his excitement at this proposal. He would be training with a sword master and get to stay here.   
  
" Sounds like a plan to me. If Tenchi doesn't mind me staying here."  
  
" Nope I don't mind. If anything, it will give the girls another person to pick on." Tenchi and Knucks chuckled over this.  
  
" It's settled then. Everyday after breakfast, come up here. My training is not easy, in fact its grueling." He could've said that it required a sex change and Knucks still would've accepted.  
  
" I'm not afraid of hard work."  
  
" Good. See you both tomorrow."  
  
  
  
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Knucks and Tenchi had went through the rest of the day not even mentioning the training. Tenchi had gone down to the fields to work while Knucks decided that it was time to get to know some of the girls. He figured that he would start with Ayeka since him and her haven't even talked to each other since he came here. He might've had a hard time finding any of the other girls but Ayeka was very noticeable since she was screaming at the top of her lungs at Ryoko. Tenchi had warned very strongly about getting in-between them when they were feuding. Since he valued his health, he decided to watch and listen from a far for now. The fight probably would've raged on for a long time if it hadn't been for little Sasami hitting both fighters in the head with a frying pan. That stopped them just long enough so Knucks could get Ayeka's attention, " Hey miss Ayeka! Do you mind if I talk to you?"  
  
" I am in the middle of something right now! Please let me put that demon in her place first! Now then Ryoko, where were we-" she looked up to see that Ryoko had disappeared from their fight and was now hovering next to Knucks.  
  
" You don't really wanna talk to that lame, spoiled brat do you? I'm much more interesting than her." Knucks couldn't tell if she was trying to get under Ayeka's skin or if she really wanted to talk to him.  
  
" Fair enough. Let's take a walk." Knucks saw Ryoko stick her tongue out at Ayeka and heard Ayeka calling Ryoko a coward. While Knucks thought it would end there, he couldn't help but chuckle as a rock hit Ryoko in the back of the head.  
  
  
  
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Once they were away from Ayeka's fury, Ryoko asked the first questions. The simple stuff like where he was from and what he was doing here. She seemed surprise that he was not of this world. Then she asked the kicker question: what about your family? This brought back painful memories of his father dying while he was only 5, his mother at 14 and most recently his sister a few months after his mother. All killed by the same maniac, the very reason he was out here, to hunt him down and kill him. He told Ryoko this and she seemed really surprised. He looked into her eyes and saw something like pity or sorrow. He decided it was his turn for twenty questions, " What about you. Family, friends, any of the above?" He figured that she gave him that look because she had plenty of both while he had none.  
  
" No family and the gang back there are my only friends. See I was created by Washu. Then I was captured by this whack job named Kagato who basically brainwashed me and used me to kill billions of people and do his dirty work for him." This made Knucks' jaw drop. He thought he had it bad and she had it good, but it was really the opposite. She had gone through a lot more than him and she still had the kindness to feel sorry for him. He gave her a look that resembled both envy and understanding.  
  
" What's that look all about?" she asked in a calm tone, for her. He was going to answer her when she suddenly laughed out loud. " Don't tell me you have a crush on me already."   
  
This made Knucks trip over his own feet, " No! I was just ,er, I mean I was." He took a second to get his blushing under control and said, " I'm just wondering how you made it through all of that."   
  
Ryoko just smiled and said, " Not as hard as it sounded. I don't see how you got past losing your entire family."  
  
" Not as hard as it sounded." He looked over at Ryoko and smiled, " I was more concentrated on getting the guy who did than morning them." They walked on in a comfortable silence, stealing glances and smiles at each other every now and then. He was more focused on his surroundings, the beautiful day was still here, not a cloud in the endless blue of the sky. He thought he should ask another question but couldn't think of any so he decided to tell her why he hadn't left yet, " Tenchi's grandpa has invited me to stay here and train with him."  
  
Ryoko looked over at him with that statement, " Are you going to?"  
  
" Yeah I decided to earlier today. I figured that I could help to even out the odds a little bit so the men won't be so over matched."   
  
Ryoko chuckled and added, " That's cool. Now I don't have to do anything around the house." Knucks chuckled back. The wind picked up and so did the leaves. Knucks watched as her spiky hair whipped around in the wind. Her green dress and pink vest tried its best to imitate. She really was gorgeous.  
  
She noticed his hair waving in the wind also, his short blonde hair. His clothes also blew in the wind, he wore a white tank top and a black sweat pants. He really was pretty cute. They locked eyes there in the windy paradise. Knucks could do nothing but stare at her tiger like eyes. He was snapped away from their "more than friendly" gaze by the sound of someone groaning on the path ahead. She must of heard it too as she flew ahead to see who it was. As it turns out, Tenchi had been coming back from the fields when his basket broke, releasing a lot of carrots onto the dirt path. Out of nowhere, a brown cat or maybe a rabbit, started to eat the carrots, oblivious to the dirt that covered them.  
  
" What on Earth is that thing!?" Knucks asked and stared at it.  
  
" That thing is a cabbit and its name is Ryoh-oki." Knucks nodded and the little cabbit looked up at him and happily meowed.  
  
" Let me guess, a cat and a rabbit equals a cabbit right?"   
  
" Yep, your smarter than you look." Ryoko winked at Knucks and then helped Tenchi to his feet. Knucks grabbed his tools and the broken basket and they all headed back towards the house.  
  
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Knucks had gone through the remainder of the day talking with Sasami, shortly with Mihoshi and tried to talk to Washu but she had scared him away when she tried to experiment on him. He found that he liked just about everybody he talked to, Ayeka excluded because she didn't wanna talk. The night just dragged on until dinner time. Knucks couldn't wait to eat some more of Sasami's wonderful cooking. He opened his bedroom door to the smell of spices and, what smelled like, a very delicious vegetable soup. He could only imagine the main dish for this evening, but he could imagine that it would be a culinary delight.   
  
He was so wrapped up in the smell of the hallway that he didn't notice the bathroom door opening right in front of his face until it was on his face. He staggered backwards and leaned against the wall as he had been knock for a loop. He didn't even know who opened the door.  
  
" What the-, Oh crap! I'm sorry Knucks. I didn't know you were walking by." Knucks recognized Ryoko's voice and saw her on one knee checking him for injury.   
  
" No, it was my fault. I was to busy trying to guess what Sasami had made for dinner. I should've kept my eyes open." Knucks could see a smile sneaking on Ryoko's face. " What's so funny?"  
  
" She was almost laughing now, " Nothing it's just that I can't believe that someone could be as clumsy as Mihoshi." They both had a pretty good laugh about that. Ryoko helped him to his feet, Knucks noted how warm how warm her hand was. They walked together down stairs to the dinner table. Either by accident or coincidence, they ended up sitting next to each other. Dinner dragged on just as last nights had, arguing and frying pans abound.  
  
After dinner, Knucks decided to go outside and admire the stars for a little bit. It seems he wasn't the only one with that idea as Sasami and Ryoko were out near the lake. He took his time walking down to their position while he admired the starry night. Hundreds and hundreds of bright bulbs in the sky, each representing a different planet, a different constellation, a different beacon of light in the endless black sea that is space. Then of course, the biggest light bulb in the sky, the moon. The big sponge-like moon that, on this night, was a crescent; The smile of a black Jack-o-lantern that changes and moves with the night.  
  
He let them know of his presence, " What are you two doin' out here?  
  
Ryoko looked up and was delighted to see Knucks, " Nothing but staring. What are you doin out here? Spying on us or have you fallen for Sasami now?"   
  
Knucks once again blushed at her comment, " Neither. Just thought I would admire the stars and stuff."  
  
Sasami spoke up now, " So you don't think I'm cute?" she giggled and Knucks noticed that she actually wanted an answer.  
  
" No, you are cute for a little girl, but you're a little young for me." They all chuckled at that.  
  
" How old are you anyways?" Ryoko asked this question.  
  
" I'll be 18 next week. Why?" He thought of at least ten things he could've added onto that statement but he didn't with the presence of Sasami.  
  
She got up from the rock she was sitting on and said, " Not legal on this planet. Not yet," in a playful tone. She told Sasami that it was time for bed and walked by me. I turned around just in time to see her wink at me over her shoulder. Knucks was now pretty sure that she was just playing with his emotions. Used or not, he still had a fuzzy feeling in his heart. He had more important things to think about, like how he was going to prepare for training tomorrow, but his mind lingered on the beautiful night.  
  
  
  
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In Space:  
  
The darkness of space and the shadow of the planets sheltered the Soja from the scanners of even Washu. On board this weapon loaded warship was a man of great power. He waited for his readings to come through. He smiled as he read the screen, Ryoko and the gems of power had been found. At last, he could set his plan into motion. 


	4. Training of the Brave

Knucks awoke the next morning, not to whistling and peace, but to a loud bang and the sound of small drips of water hitting the roof and windows. He was surprised to find it raining and even more surprised to find little Sasami standing in his doorway. He wasn't worried about his privacy since he word a tank top and sweats to sleep ever night but the look on her face was that of pure embarrassment. She looked away quickly as I removed my covers. Sasami, he could tell, thought he wore nothing to sleep at night, " it's alright Sasami. I have clothes on." She turned around slowly and peeked through he fingers before completely removing them from her tomato red face.   
  
She so shy it was humoring, " um, I, um, just wanted to tell you that, um, breakfast his ready." With that, she jogged down the hallway giggling like a normal girl her age would.  
  
Knucks gave the thought one more chuckle before he proceeded downstairs. He remembered his agenda for the day, go train with the master and…nothing. After that, he had nothing to do. He decided to try and give Ayeka another shot after training. That girl seemed nice but could have a cold heart when she got angry. No sooner did he finish the thought that he realized he had something hovering above him. He reached up to find nothing but air with his finger tips. He knew perfectly well who it was but, as always, her intentions were unclear. She reappeared next to him as if she had done nothing. Knucks reached other and flicked her on the ear. She stuck her tongue out at him and Knucks just smiled back at her. He still hadn't decided to see Ryoko as a tease or as a girl that really liked him. He shrugged it off and supposed that she would make her intentions clear when she wanted to.  
  
He could give the idea no further thought as Sasami entered the room and announced that everyone could start eating now. Sasami had cooked a light dish today as well, crisp bacon, sizzling eggs, toast toasted to perfection, and a glass of orange juice. Ryoko, who made it a habit to play with her food before she swallowed it whole, arranged her plate in a smiley face pattern. She showed it around the table and everybody smirked. Sasami just hit her upside her head to get her to eat her food.   
  
Knucks ate fast so he could be ready when Tenchi finished his meal to start training. His nervousness came back to haunt him. Once again though, he relied on the arguing of Ayeka and Ryoko over the last piece of toast and the swift frying pan coming down on both of their hands to make himself lighten up. That seemed to do the trick every time.   
  
After what seemed like hours, Tenchi finished his meal and we started off to my first day. He wasn't nervous anymore but definitely felt anxious to get this first one over with. Ryoko came up and asked, " You off already. Thought you were staying."  
  
" No I'm just going to train with Tenchi and his grandpa. I told you that yesterday"   
  
Knucks watched as she attempted to remember their conversation and, surprisingly quickly, said, " oh yeah! I remember now. Well… after you guys are done… do you…wanna hang out?"   
  
Knucks thought that Ryoko had winked but he wasn't positive, " Yeah sure. Why not." With a nod and a smile, Tenchi and him were off to a date with hell.  
  
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In Space:  
  
The mysterious person watched his monitor screen as the young Tenchi and the still mysterious Knucks passed by his micro-cam. He smiled as they both tried desperately to stay out of the rain with no avail. His smile turned to a frown for a moment as Tenchi seemed to look directly at his camera, but he quickly smiled again when Tenchi turned and tried to keep up with Knucks. These cameras were really works of art. Nobody could've possibly seen one with the naked eye. This backed up his guess that Tenchi had just glanced that way. He would have to send another camera out to track the newcomer, Knucks. Each camera tracked a specific target and nothing else. It would continue to work as long as the Soja's engines continued to hum with life.   
  
He turned his thoughts from his own genius to curiosity about the newcomer. Knucks had proven to be very good with clearing out his background information. He had no records of his past, not even a birth certificate. He would have to solely rely on his cameras to gather information. From what he could tell, Knucks was an orphan out on his own that spent a little to much time talking with his prey, Ryoko. That was basically all he knew about the little enigma. That and the fact that Knucks thought he had some skill with a blade.   
  
With that thought, the over looker summoned his blade. His blade couldn't have been seen in the pitch black had it not been for its red outline. The wooden handle fit perfectly into his had as he waved his blade around, watching it cut through the air with a swoosh. He decided that Knucks would learn soon enough how a true sword master fought. If he even survived what was coming before him…  
  
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Knucks got to the shrine first, followed only half a step behind by Tenchi. Grandpa was nowhere to be seen yet, Knucks felt a distinct power present among the trees. Tenchi leaned over and whispered, " Watch for him. He could come from anywhere to attack. Since you don't have a blade, just dodge it."   
  
Suddenly, a fierce wind awoke and Knucks found himself dodging a downward slash attack by rolling to the left. Grandpa looked pleased at his action, " Very good. I can tell you have had training. I thought you were just another wanna be. I'm still not completely convinced though. Tenchi!" He summoned Tenchi over with a wave of his hand. Knucks took this second to calm down from the slight adrenaline rush he had. He whipped the water off his brow with his shirt. The rain had calmed down to nothing but a mist. This still made it inconvenient as he couldn't see but fifteen feet in front of him, " Knucks, I would like you to duel Tenchi. Simple rules, the first to drop their weapon loses."   
  
Knucks didn't even have time to protest as Tenchi was in ready position and a sword wooden bottake was flying at him. He caught the bottake and decided that it was best just to duel him to not anger the master. They were ready to begin when a loud rumble ran through the ground. Knucks looked up and tried to see where it was coming from. Tenchi just smiled and said, " Don't pay attention to that. That's just Ayeka and Ryoko getting along." Knucks heard this and was both appalled and a little surprised. They must've fought a lot for Tenchi to be so used to it.  
  
With no more time for thought, Tenchi lunged at Knucks. He hadn't seen Tenchi's fighting style so Knucks just dropped into his and waited for Tenchi to strike. Tenchi did a horizontal slice towards his head, but Knucks had expected that and ducked. He brought his sword up and struck Tenchi's wrist. Tenchi dropped his weapon, hopped back and shook his wrist while blowing on it. Grandpa walked over to Tenchi and gave him a slap to the back of the head. Knucks laughed out loud at this as he saw Grandpa get down in a stance and whisper something to Tenchi. Without warning, the old man leapt across the ground towards Knucks. Knucks didn't even have time to get into his stance when he saw a bottake appear in front of his face.   
  
" You fight well, but let your guard down much to soon. You did so as soon as you saw Tenchi drop his weapon. What if he were an assassin with accomplices? They would've killed you. You must be ready for anything. Keep an open mind and a quick guard." Knucks was still surprised at Grandpa's sudden movements. He saw him move with grace and purpose, but couldn't possibly move fats enough to counter with his guard down. He inwardly cursed himself while he nodded his head in agreement.   
  
" Good. Now lets see if you learn from your mistakes." Half way through his sentence, Grandpa swung his sword at Knucks' midsection, only to watch as Knucks expertly bent over backwards to dodge. All this in three words. By the word mistake came around, they were back as if nothing had ever happened. " Very good indeed. Now," He walked over to some pegs that stuck out of the ground, " both of you over on the pegs for a balancing trick."  
  
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Knucks had never been so sore in his life. He limped back on his hurt leg and listened as Tenchi described his training times. Knucks focused on keeping his leg from dragging as feeling was slowly returning to it. Grandpa had used a paralysis technique on his leg, it worked. He ran over Grandpa's advice to better his sword abilities. Keep my feet spread, stay balanced, stop daydreaming and all that stuff. Grandpa had walked away from that training unscathed; not a very good sign for Knucks defeating him anytime soon.  
  
He tuned back into Tenchi's trip down memory lane. Tenchi got another two words out before we heard and saw Ayeka and Ryoko running straight for them. Tenchi ducked behind Knucks and, despite his condition, Knucks still found himself laughing when both girls tried to get at Tenchi through him. They couldn't quite get to him but they both acted surprisingly, Ayeka leaping over Knucks head and Ryoko just hugging Knucks instead. Ryoko squeezed him as hard as she could muster. Knucks found himself not screaming in pain because there was a certain aspect to this hug. The hug was rough but at the same time both comforting and warm. Ryoko released her death hold and looked him straight in the eye. There was a cat-like wildness there, but in a flash, a split second flash, he thought he saw a caring look from her. Knucks kept a straight gaze and smiled slightly otherwise giving nothing away in his eyes. He had finally decided that Ryoko was genuinely interested in him.  
  
Tenchi had noticed the gaze between us and tapped me on the shoulder through Ayeka's iron grip, " Hey…. Do ya mind giving me a little help here?" Knucks looked away from Ryoko to see Tenchi struggling against Ayeka.  
  
Knucks laughed and said, " what do ya want me to do?"  
  
" How bout you pry her off." Tenchi's voice sounded strained as Ayeka was no doubt crushing his lungs.  
  
At that statement, Ayeka released her hold on Tenchi and turned to Knucks, " You touch me and I'll kill you," she looked pretty steamed but Knucks was no stranger to being threatened, " you, you, you, barbarian!"   
  
Knucks had to respond to that with a smile, " I haven't even talked to you yet and you already know me. You are amazing." Ryoko laughed in Ayeka's face at that. Knucks knew she didn't have a good comeback by the angry look on her face, " Why don't we stop arguing and get to the house before it decides to downpour again?"  
  
" What's the matter Knucks? You think your gonna melt in the water or something?" Ryoko added her two cents into the mix but Knucks was prepared for sarcasm with sarcasm.  
  
" Yep Ryoko I am. Cause I'm so sweet, I'm gonna melt like sugar." Knucks smiled at her and received one back after a little chuckle.   
  
They started to walk back to the house. Ryoko and Ayeka hadn't begun to fight yet so Knucks decided it was as good as time as any to talk with Ayeka. He had his first sentence on the tip of his tongue when he heard a branch snapping in the woods. He thought it was just an animal, but his instincts argued differently. They told him danger was closing in on them.  
  
" Shhhh! Listen." Knucks informed everyone just as the next twig broke. Tenchi took out his bottake and looked around. Ayeka was whispering to Tenchi while Ryoko had summoned the bright red sword he remembered. Knucks brought out both halves of his bottake as Grandpa had broken it in a dueling exercise. He couldn't be sure how many their were, he guessed three to ten. Ryoko disappeared suddenly and the enemies started their attack. Tenchi struck down one by breaking his bottake over it's head. Knucks saw one of them fly through the air, an android with no skin, just gleaming metal and wires. Knucks found a bunch of wires on one and tugged. The android swung his long, straight, blade to try to catch him in the side, but Knucks leaped over and jammed one half of his bottake into it's neck. Ryoko reappeared behind one and made quick work of it, but was completely oblivious to the one about to take her head off. Knucks saw this, reared back and threw the last of his weapon at her sneak attacker. He hit it in the place where a human would've had a lower belly. Ryoko turned around, shocked at the look of the metal monster that had almost killed her.   
  
She then turned quickly to the rest of the fighters, checking over their own progress against their assassins. Then she turned to Knucks who was checking on Tenchi's welfare. She saw him throw his weapon at the metal menace, to save her. She wasn't used to being saved but Knucks made it kind of…enjoyable. Her eyes traveled down o his forearm to see that he had a pretty big gash from top to bottom, about half a foot long and at least an inch deep. She walked over and checked on the still stunned Ayeka. She too had a cut, it looked like a paper cut but it was there. Ryoko then asked Knucks, " Hey Knucks. You alright?"   
  
Knucks looked down at his forearm and noticed the blood from the deep gash on it. He looked over to the area he was fighting at and saw that when he threw the bottake at Ryoko's attacker, his arm landed on a fallen metal junkie's sword. He now noticed the pain that accompanied it. While not completely unbearable, it still had a punch to it.  
  
" Yeah, yeah, I think I'll live. Are you okay?"   
  
The way that Knucks asked Ryoko that question was heart warming. She couldn't believe that a guy she had known for two days really cares about her welfare. Ryoko felt a warm feeling when she thought of him saving her, " Yeah. I'm super thanks to you."   
  
Knucks found the seductive wink she gave him to be very gratifying. On the tail of that thought was that of his now throbbing arm. Tenchi carefully looked over it and said that they needed to get back to the house and have Washu take a look at the wound. They started walking back to the house as Knucks took his already ripped up shirt and wrapped it tightly around his forearm to slow the bleeding. He never could do to many things at once so he slowed his pace to try and tightly wrap the shirt on his arm. It fell from his grip but was caught by one of Ryoko's hands. It seems Ryoko's disappearing-and-reappearing trick was pretty valuable, " Show off."   
  
" Well if you'd like me to let it drop on the ground that's fine," She acted like she was going to drop it and almost did as she discovered that it was no ordinary shirt, " Man! How much does this thing weigh.?"  
  
Knucks laughed as she acted as if it weighed more than it did, " It weighs a hundred pounds. It's good for training and the weight is sewn within the shirt fibers so…"  
  
Knucks saw her surprise at this new development, " So… you walk around with this stuff on every day?," Knucks gave her a quick nod and she wiped the surprise off her face, " Well, your tougher than you look. Want me to give you a hand with that?"  
  
Knucks could probably do it himself with a few more tries but by that time, it would be mud soaked, " Yeah. If you don't mind."  
  
Ryoko started wrapping his arm up and said, " You saved my life, I think I can wrap up a little scratch like this for ya." They exchanged smiles as Knucks sucked up the pain she was causing him.  
  
Knucks noticed something on Ryoko's wrist that he hadn't before. A red gem was there. He looked at the other and she had a matching one. The weird thing was that they were inside the skin and glowing. He decided to leave it alone until she looked up at him and he noticed another one in her neck. He asked, " What's up with the gems Ryoko?"  
  
Ryoko only paused for a second in her wrapping and answered, " Nothing. They're just decoration. Cool aren't they?" She decided that telling him the history of her gems would be pointless information. Besides, he would be in danger if he knew anything about them.  
  
Knucks didn't believe Ryoko when she said the gems meant nothing but decided to not push his luck. She finished wrapping his arm and stood straight up to look him in the eye. She was only a few inches below his 6'2 but she felt kind of small next to him. It was probably his muscles that made it seem that she was smaller, by leaps and bounds. Yet, she did not feel threatened by him in the least. In fact, she felt very comfortably around him, like the perfect fit of the perfect shoe. She wanted to touch him suddenly and got her wish when she thought of thanking him, " I never got to thank you for saving me back there. Even if you were clumsy enough to get yourself hurt in the process. I hate thank you's so….."   
  
Knucks could see that she was trying to make this easier for herself by cracking a joke. It didn't help to much. He could also see her straining to say thanks so, he decided to spare he the strain, " Your welcome. Anytime."  
  
Ryoko smiled and grabbed his good arm and brought it up. She took his hand and shook it gently, like someone who was a good friend.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------  
  
In Space:  
  
He stared at his screen, scrolling through his androids to see which one was closest to the targets. A frown played across his face as no signal was coming up for any of his units. He assigned on of his cameras to ascertain their fate. They had been completely obliterated by Tenchi, the new comer, and Ryoko. Ayeka had done little to nothing to help out. He took a closer look and noted a large splash of blood on a fallen sword. He smiled a little bit at the sight but it dissipated when he saw that all were still alive. He threw the wine glass he was holding in disbelief that his beautiful androids had been beaten without taking a single life. They were disgraces, every last one of them. He wondered who had been hurt and turned to another camera to quench his curiosity. The Knucks fellow had a not anywhere near fatal injury to his left arm. With Washu, he would heal by tomorrow.   
  
He stared at Knucks with a new found hatred as he shook hands with Ryoko. He zoomed in on the one of her gems that was facing the camera. They were the object of his desire and nothing, not Tenchi and certainly not this little flirt, Knucks is even going to live to see Ryoko's final days. 


	5. Ups and Downs of the Brave

Knucks stood in awe of the humongous laboratory of Washu. They had walked through what he could've sworn looked like a broom closet but had turned out to be a gateway to her lab. Ryoko and Knucks stood in a humongous room with two stair cases on either side of the plateau they were standing on that lead down into the machine part of the room. Directly in front of them was a semi-circle cement planter with what looked like just weeds growing from it. The roof was not to be seen in this amazing room. It stretched on until the shadows hid it from the human eye. The tiled ground was colored shades of purplish and pink while the walls were a stained white-yellow. It was simply amazing the amount of thought that had to have gone into the making of this room; the years of planning and even more to build. Not to mention that this room was bigger than Tenchi's entire house and Knucks' old one put together.  
  
Knucks stared hard at the shadow, trying to see to top of the room. He quickly became lightheaded and lowered his head to dull the sting. He opened his eyes slowly to see that his arm was still bleeding and turned to see if Ryoko had deserted him. On the contrary, her own arm was hanging on his good one in more than just a casual way. Knucks didn't have time to feel the warmth of her arm before he felt very dizzy. He looked down to try and numb down the pain but the movement of his head caused more pain. A small pool of blood now formed beneath his limp arm. Knucks saw his shirt fall off his arm and in his semi-high condition, found it genuinely hilarious.  
  
Ryoko watched Knucks loose it over his fallen shirt and decided that Knucks was going to bleed out if she waited for Washu to find them, " Washu!! Get out here now!"  
  
Knucks heard this over his hysteria and cringed at the headache it caused. He was going to tell her to try to reframe from screaming to high heaven when a door appeared in front of them out of nowhere. On any other day, that would've seemed strange to him.  
  
" Bout time Washu! Get over here and help him before he bleeds to death!" Ryoko sounded both agitated and rushed.  
  
" Alright, alright ya big whiner." Washu walked over and lifted Knucks' chin up. She lifted his eyelids and checked his pulse.  
  
" Well? What do you think? If he dies, its your fault…"  
  
" Do you want him to die?  
  
Ryoko didn't seem prepared for that question and took a few seconds to answer, " No but you took a long time to…"  
  
" Then get over here and hold him up right would ya."  
  
Ryoko phased over to help up Knucks as Washu started talking in medical lingo Knucks could never hope to understand. Every now and then, she would give him instructions to see his coordination like, ' How many fingers am I holding up?' He followed as best he could as Ryoko held most of his side to keep him balanced.  
  
After what seemed like an eternity, she told Ryoko that Knucks was feeling weird because of the blood loss and to not worry. Knucks understood everything now that his high had been extinguished by an instant blood transfusion. Knucks could hardly believe that he was better already. She really was the greatest scientific genius in the world.  
  
" And how are you feeling?"   
  
Washu and Ryoko had turned towards Knucks as he responded, " A lot better. Thanks Washu. I'm very grateful."   
  
As he bowed his head in gratitude, Ryoko got a jealous look on her face, " Hey! You forgetting someone? Who had to carry you in here and hold you up for that whacko?"  
  
Knucks looked up at her with a slight smirk on his face and answered, " Quit bragging." He noticed a red speck on her face, no doubt his own blood. He walked over and whipped it off her face, " Blood."  
  
" It's a lost cause. Look." Ryoko pointed to her sleeves and hands. Knucks wanted to say, ' I wanted to get it off your pretty face,' but all that came out was, " Yeah I guess so."  
  
"Might I suggest you both take a bath tonight. Ryoko, will you show Knucks the On-sen?"   
  
Ryoko was about to protest when Washu winked at her. They stared at each other for a few minutes at least. Knucks was getting a little freaked out. He looked around the room again and noticed his bloody shirt on the ground. He picked it up and heard Tenchi shouting for him at the same time.  
  
" Tenchi!"   
  
Tenchi walked over to Knucks and asked if he was alright, " Yep, Washu fixed me up in a few minutes." He pointed to Washu and decided to ask Tenchi, " Do you have any idea what they're doing?"  
  
" Yeah. See, they can talk to each other telepathically."   
  
' Yet another surprise to add to the list' Knucks thought as they both stared at each other intently.   
  
Ryoko was the first to snap out of the coma they had been in. She quickly located Knucks, ran over and dragged him out the door.   
  
  
  
----------------------------------------  
  
  
  
She had drug his body up the stairs and to his room door. She then instructed him to get some swimming trunks on. When he tried to protest, she opened his door and shoved him inside. She looked around him and saw that their was no personal items to be seen, " Hey. Where's all your stuff?"   
  
" What stuff? I try not to collect junk."   
  
Ryoko found another thing that they had in common was lack of stuff, " Yeah, me neither. I don't own a single piece of clothing. I just phase in and out of my stuff everyday."   
  
She was so glad that her mom decided to talk to her. That was the one thing she was good for, advice. She told Ryoko that she should take Knucks to the On-sen to get to know him better. Apparently, Washu had been digging around in Ryoko's mind and saw that she started to like Knucks…a lot.   
  
She thought of how to solve the swimming trunks problem. She phased into Tenchi's room and dug through a few drawers to find a pair that looked like they would it Knucks. She phased back and handed them to Knucks. He shook his head and asked Ryoko for a little privacy, " Oh no. I don't mind at all." Ryoko winked at Knucks only to get a smile in return. She turned around as Knucks changed and thought how great this was going to be. All they were gonna do was talk, until Ryoko felt comfortable enough to ask him out. If Ryoko had her way, it wouldn't stop there either.  
  
Knucks signaled that he was ready and Ryoko turned around. The trunks were almost a perfect fit and the orange Hawaiian leaf pattern on a green background made it so he literally lights up any room.   
  
Ryoko grabbed his arm and drug him back to the bathroom. Every time Knucks would ask where exactly this On-sen was, Ryoko would just say, " You'll have to wait and see."  
  
---  
  
She drug him into the bathroom and finally let his arm go. She turned around and backed into the far wall next to the bath tub. She backed all the way in until all that was visible was her head and asked, " Are you coming or not?"  
  
" It's kind of hard when I can't phase through walls like you can."   
  
With that, Ryoko sprung forward and grabbed Knucks' other arm. She drug him backwards as Knucks prepared him self to hit the wall. Instead though, he went right through it and hit nothing but humid air. Knucks looked around and reached back to the wall he just went through to find that he really could've just walked right through it. He felt embarrassed and saw the wide grin on Ryoko's face. He stuck his tongue at her as she usually does and got a chuckle and was called a whiner.  
  
They walked in a comfortable silence down the hallway to the On-sen. Knucks guessed that Washu had built this place with her lab and somehow hid it from everybody's sight from the outside. This place had a surprise around every corner it seemed.  
  
They got to the main room and Knucks was mesmerized by the beauty of the room. The main attraction of the room was the forest that surrounded the pools. Lush green plants and trees with few differences from the ones outside. The second thing he noticed were the pools that were surrounded by the beautiful forests. There was one that lay in front of Ryoko and himself. It was probably about half the size of the lake outside but only a few feet deep. There was a small waterfall that fell to a much smaller pool beneath the large one. That one served as a resting point for the water until it was pushed through a stream and into a much larger waterfall that led down to a pool about half the size of the first one. The ceiling was made of thick glass that showed the gloomy sunset and still protected from the elements. It was brightly lit to show the beautiful colors of it all. The floor was tile for another three feet and then gave way to nothing but stepping stones.  
  
---  
  
Ryoko had left Knucks to make sure nobody else was there to ruin the moment. She thought she heard splashing, but figured it was just the waterfalls. She then fazed into her swimsuit and went to get Knucks. She found him still looking around the room. She snapped her finger sin front of his ace to get his attention. She took a step back and asked him what he thought of her suit. His look said it all.  
  
---  
  
When Ryoko asked him what he thought of her suit, the first thing Knucks asked himself was, " That's a bathing suit?" She had phased into a sea green bikini that left little to the imagination and a matching beach thong with fringe around the edges. Knucks couldn't get enough of it, " Well, at least you put more clothes on then I thought you would."   
  
He smiled at her as she asked, " What did you expect me to wear?"  
  
" A staple." They both laughed as they walked towards the largest and closest pool. They got in the very hot water and relaxed. They sat there for a few minutes before Ryoko noticed something around Knucks' neck. It was a silver necklace with a connecting circle pattern all the way around. It was about a half-inch think and shiny. His eyes were closed so she tried to carefully reach over a see what it was. She touched it and Knucks' hand stopped her hand from taking his necklace, " Can I help you with something?"  
  
Ryoko got her hand and his necklace from his grip. Knucks tried his hardest to get it back but to no avail as she phased away from him. He spotted her down in the bottom pool and she thought she had time as Knucks would have to go down the stairs to get her. Knucks knew she was playing but decided to surprise her anyways. He noticed the floor beneath the smaller waterfall was at least seven feet deep and figured the bigger one had to be deeper. He took his place on the edge of the falls, looked at Ryoko and the face she was making and jumped. Knucks saw her face in slow motion as he jumped, she was shocked. Knucks hit the water with his back and, despite the sting, swam quickly to get to the surface. He got there and tasted the sweet air and the sweet sound of Ryoko shouting and cheering at his acrobatics. He got to his feet and asked, " What's my score judge?"  
  
Ryoko didn't get it at first but smiled as she said, " Well, The form was flawless but you were a little messy on the landing, you might have to settle for the silver medal."  
  
They both laughed again. Knucks saw his opportunity and took it. He used a speed technique he knew to run next to Ryoko and grab his necklace out of her hand. He quickly got away and put it back around his neck.  
  
" Party pooper. Why'd you have to go take it huh?"   
  
" It was mine in the first place. You don't know how important this is to me."  
  
She could see him sadden at the thought of what that necklace represented, " Well…" She walked over to where he was standing and wrapped her arms around his one, " Why don't you tell me."  
  
Knucks didn't expect her to be so forward about her interest him and was very unprepared for it. He decided to sit down before she noticed his own " forwardness." " My sister gave this to me when I was ten. She put a picture of me and her playing in it." He pressed a small button on the side of the necklace and one of the circles spun out to the front and opened, revealing a picture of a little blonde girl playing with a little Knucks she presumed. " She always used to say that we would play until the sun burned out. She didn't deserve to die like that. None of them did."  
  
Knucks closed his eyes and remembered the good days. He could sense that Ryoko was staring at him and decided that she must feel guilty. He opened his eyes and looked into Ryoko's, " It's not your fault. I shouldn't concern you with this stuff."  
  
Ryoko brought her hand up and for the first time in a while, Ryoko felt she had to apologize, " No. It's my fault I'm…." Ryoko lifted Knucks' chin to face her and said it, " I'm sorry for making you relive those memories. I shouldn't have pried in the first place. I…"   
  
Knucks made eye contact with her and saw that she genuinely meant it. He couldn't believe that she apologized for this or anything for that matter. He noticed one hand was warmer than the other and looked down to see their hands entwined with each other. Knucks looked back up and saw a stray bunch of hair on Ryoko's forehead. He reached up and whipped it away and leaned in closer. He had lost control and was along for the ride of his life…  
  
" Heyyyyyyy! Ryoko, are you in here!"  
  
Sasami's voice rang through the On-sen and the ears of the two occupants of it. Ryoko snapped out of her daze and quickly flew up to meet Sasami. Knucks was left there to try and make sense of what was going to happen if Sasami hadn't interrupted. They had come within a hair of electrifying the very water they were in with a kiss. " Great timing." Knucks mumbled as he splashed a little bit of water.  
  
---  
  
" Hey Ryoko. I've been looking all over for you."  
  
Sasami walked closer to the spot where Ryoko was. Ryoko tried to seem as composed as possible despite what had just almost happened. Ryoko had almost kissed Knucks. She looked at Sasami and tried to keep a smile from appearing on her face, " What's up kid?"  
  
Sasami smiled up at her and said, " I just wanted to tell you that dinner was ready and I wanted to ask you to go up and get Knucks for me."  
  
She thought of Knucks down at the bottom pool sent chills down her spine either from anticipation or envy. She still couldn't believe that he was still able to go on with his life after the death's of his family like that. " Yeah. I'll go get'em. What are we eatin tonight?"  
  
Sasami gave Ryoko the biggest smile she could and said, " It's a surprise silly."  
  
Sasami walked off through the wall and into the hallway. Ryoko waited until she heard the screen slide shut to let out a sigh. She went back over the moment with Knucks in her head as she walked down the steps to him. She surprised herself twice in that special moment with him. First off, she genuinely opened her heart to him and apologized. She didn't regret apologizing, she wanted to. Secondly, she lost control over herself. She felt his warm fingers slide across her forehead and she lost it. She leaned in for the kiss with him just like he did.   
  
She reached the bottom step and looked around for Knucks. She saw him sitting near the waterfall, letting the water from the fall splash on his head and back. She walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and smiled as they just stared at each other. Ryoko knew that she wanted to finished what they had started, but also knew that the time just wasn't right. She decided that there would definitely be another time to finish the job. " Sasami says dinner's ready. You get to your room and change."  
  
Knucks just stared at her a little longer before he said, " Thanks." He took the stairs three at a time and shouted, " See you at dinner."   
  
Ryoko looked up after him and whispered, " Wouldn't miss it," and smiled.  
  
  
  
----------------------------------------------------  
  
In Space:  
  
It was done. All he had to do was collect a little more combat data and he would take Ryoko for his own. He would attack tonight and test their awareness. He was ecstatic about finally moving into phase three of operation gem strike. Washu could not protect Ryoko from his new sword. Nor could Yosho or Tenchi stop him from taking what was rightfully his. In the back of his mind was a little voice that said 'Aren't you forgetting somebody?'   
  
He recognized this voice as the voice of doubt. Doubt that these people couldn't stand in his way but maybe, just maybe, Knucks had the ability to stop his plans. Knucks was a mystery that could prove his undoing if not played just right.   
  
' You still think he is nothing.'  
  
The voice again. What was he supposed to think? That this little nobody would be able to stop him when he cannot even handle Yosho? Preposterous. Knucks had little power compared to his own and could never hope to protect Ryoko from him.  
  
' He has motivation. If he ever found out, he would…'  
  
If he found out, he would die in a rage rather than in sadness. Knucks had no way of knowing that anyways. This thought brought on another. What if Knucks fell in love with Ryoko? Matters would then become complicated and Knucks would become desperate. The mere thought of Knucks' rage scared him out of his robe.  
  
He laughed out loud at the would be dream of Knucks. He was giving this to much thought and not focusing on that which was truly important, the question he must now ask himself now that victory is in his hands. What will he do first with the power of the gods?  
  
" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"  
  
-----------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
Knucks quickly closed the door to his room and feel onto his bed. He lay there for a few seconds and think of Ryoko, and the meaning of the moment they had just shared. Knucks turned over and stared at the ceiling, re-picturing the image, slower. He couldn't believe that he was within an inch of tasting her lips. He was so close to her electrifying kiss that he had smelt the mint flavoring from something she had chewed on, lingering on her lips, begging to travel to his lips as well. It was torture.  
  
He woke from his daydream and got changed to go to the lovely smelling dinner. Sasami was a wonderful cook and had the sweetest smile of anybody he had ever met. He thought of being mad at her for interrupting the moment before, but decided that she didn't mean to intrude. A knock at the door stopped his thought process. He told them to come in. The door opened and Grandpa stood before him with a piece of paper in his hand. " What's up?"   
  
Grandpa walked over to Knucks and, with a big smile on his face, said, " Good news for you, you only have my training every other day now. Since we now have two trainees, we can split up the chores and the training."  
  
Grandpa gave the piece of paper in his hand to Knucks, " Okay. What am I doing on my off days?"  
  
" You will be going down to the fields and planting and picking them. Tenchi will show where the fields are tomorrow morning. Have fun."   
  
"Yeah." Knucks smiled, shook his hand and walked down stairs for dinner. He noticed that everybody except for Ryoko sat around the table waiting for Sasami to serve the food. He tried to sneak a peek at what she had made but got a wooden spoon to the back of the head for his troubles. He stood on the bottom step rubbing the pain in his head away when he heard a sarcastic remark from behind him  
  
" Move it or lose it."   
  
He knew it was Ryoko and moved off the step but into her path to the table. She moved down the stairs and walked right through him, " Phasing is a wonderful thing."  
  
He smiled and said over his shoulder, " To those who have it."  
  
Knucks followed her to the table but sat between Tenchi and Sasami, directly across from Ryoko. Ayeka sat next to Tenchi and Mihoshi on the other side of Sasami. Sasami had made a chicken dinner with chicken soup, chicken fried rice, chicken dumplings on the side and a sauce that Knucks thought tasted just like chicken. They ate in relative harmony, fighting and frying pans aside.   
  
Knucks helped clear the table and wash the dishes and then decided to take a walk. He started outside when a figure appeared in front of him, " Hey."  
  
Ryoko loved surprising him, " Hey."  
  
" Where're you going?"  
  
" Out for a walk."  
  
Ryoko now took a step closer to him and looked up at him in the eyes, " Mind if I tag along."  
  
Knucks knew he wanted her to come with him but kept his composure enough to give her a good answer, " Absolutely. Shall we?"  
  
" We shall."  
  
---  
  
Ryoko took Knucks' arm when they were out of sight from the house. He didn't seem to mind as he moved his hand across her arm. They walked along in silence for a second more when she noticed him staring at her. She looked at him through the corner of her eye and for second, thought he was staring at her bosoms. She prepared to make a statement when he asked her, " Will you please tell me what is up with those gems?"  
  
He had been staring at her wrist and neck, not her bosoms. Ryoko was feeling a bit stupid but still answered, " Nothing is up with them. I told you, they're just decorations."  
  
He stopped walking and just gave her a 'yeah right' stare. She held his mocking gaze for a few minutes before she gave in, " Fine, if you really want to know. These gems are the source of my power. Washu was a god at one time but wanted to be a human so, she put all of her power into these three gems," she pointed to her gems on her wrists and neck, " and put them into her creations body."  
  
Knucks broke his gaze and thought for a minute before speaking, " So, that's why that Kagato guy wanted to control you right? So he could command your power?"  
  
" Bingo. He wanted to keep the gems and get rid of me but he couldn't get them out of my body. So, he just brainwashed me and made me do his bidding for a lonnnggg time."  
  
Just then, an image of one of the many poor souls she had killed flashed into her mind. She shook her head to get rid of the image and closed her eyes. She stopped shaking her head and opened her eyes to see Knucks looking directly at her, " You like to watch or something?"  
  
Knucks smiled and responded, " No. I'm more of a hands on kinda guy," he smiled and shook his head, " but I was really thinking how a girl with your past can feel sorry for a guy like me with my past. You had it worse than me."  
  
Ryoko was surprised by his concern for her past. Not even Tenchi had cared this much for what had happened to her, " I told you before, it wasn't as bad as-"  
  
" - it sounded? I got that part. You asked me before how I lived on through the deaths of my family but I ask you, how can you possibly live on knowing that you involuntarily killed thousands."  
  
Ryoko was really surprised now. She thought about lying to him but looked into his eyes and saw that he really wanted to know. She felt touched by his concern for her and felt like this was the moment to finish that job. She took a step closer to him and said, " I haven't gotten over it and I still don't sleep because of it. Every time I try to sleep, I have dreams of those people and I wake up screaming. I scared everyone in the house for three straight nights before I gave up sleeping." She smiled, " Ayeka threatened my life if I woke her up again so…"  
  
Knucks laughed and said, " Yeah, she isn't very princess like is she?"  
  
" No, not at all."  
  
They both laughed and walked along under the moon lit sky. They walked on until Ryoko decided that they should go into town for an ice cream. She knew Knucks would say that it was more than a few hour walk, " I can fly us there and back in a few minutes."  
  
She knew now that he had no reason to say no, " Well in that case…" Knucks put his arms around Ryoko's shoulder and said, " shall we?"  
  
Ryoko felt his wonderful, warm, body pressed against hers and couldn't move for a second. She snapped out of it and said, " We shall."  
  
---  
  
Knucks loved the feeling of flying but the wind was killer. Ryoko was flying pretty fast and the wind made it impossible for him to look straight ahead. He looked down at Ryoko and saw that she was looking straight ahead without even blinking. He was more concentrated on the smile she wore. He hadn't seen her that happy since he'd come to stay with Tenchi and the gals.   
  
They got to the city in about thirty seconds and the ice cream shop in about half the time. Knucks landed on the ground and, reluctantly, let go of Ryoko. She landed and held her hand out at Knucks. He was a little baffled at first but realized that she was offering it to him. He took it and entwined their fingers as they walked into the creamery.   
  
  
  
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Ryoko landed Knucks o the ground and herself soon after. They re-grasped each others hand and walked the last few feet to the door. Knucks had enjoyed half of his milkshake as Ryoko was thirsty. They stopped before going inside and talked a little bit more. He could tell that Ryoko had enjoyed the time they spent together and Knucks couldn't lie to himself that he had too. She had laughed at his jokes as had he. They had held hands with each other for basically the whole night, and Knucks still wasn't ready to let go.   
  
" Well… You wanna do this again sometime?"  
  
Knucks took a last drink from his milk shake and smiled, " Sure. Why not. I had a great time. Thank you for the wonderful milk product."  
  
Ryoko laughed as quietly as she could. Knucks waited until she was done laughing to think of how he was going to tell her good night. Would he give her a high-five or finally finish the kiss? He set down the empty milkshake cup and grabbed her other hand. She had a twinkle in her eye that made Knucks ever more eager to taste her. He closed his eyes for a second and opened them to find Ryoko, eyes closed and leaning towards him. Knucks found himself doing the same. They leaned towards each other, slowly, waiting for the taste that would electrify the air around them with passion. The wait was painfully long, but the end effect was beyond words. Their lips touched and sent a warm shoot straight through both bodies as they embraced each other for what seemed like hours. Ryoko pulled away first from his fiery, passionate kiss. Her eyes still closed, she took a step back. Knucks opened his eyes just in time to see her lunge for his mouth again. They stand there kissing for five minutes straight until it was Knucks' turn to pull away. He opened his eyes to meet Ryoko's. He reached up to remove another stray hair from her forehead. She used her, now free, hand to hold his hand to her cheek as she said, " Wow. You're a good kisser."  
  
The passionate tension was broken with that statement as they both laughed quietly. Knucks was in another high, but this time, it was a good high that he had never felt before. The laughter stopped and Knucks let his hand drop to his waist. " Good night Ryoko."  
  
" Good night Knucks." Ryoko didn't have time to lean in before Knucks had covered her lips with his.   
  
He pulled away and licked his lip, " Tastes like Sasami's dinner, chicken." They both laughed again and a soft light shone through the screen and the footsteps of someone came closer to the door. Ryoko took Knucks' hand and flew him up to the roof. They saw Tenchi walk out on the porch and look around with a lantern. They also heard the shouting of Ayeka and Washu form the inside. Apparently, they hadn't waited for Ryoko to get drunk. Tenchi went back inside to try and calm the drunken partiers down while Ryoko and Knucks settled back to the ground. " Well, that was fun."  
  
" Yeah no kidding. I guess we better get inside before we are missed."  
  
" Hey Ryoko.  
  
" Hmm?"  
  
Knucks raised her hand and held it in between their heads, " Do me a favor and try to sleep tonight. I would feel better sleeping if I knew that you were too. If you scream in the night, I'll be the first one there okay?"  
  
Ryoko felt very protected with him. She really didn't want to have those nightmares again but she trusted him. " You'll be the first one there if I need you right?"  
  
She seemed really hesitant to go to sleep. Ryoko didn't seem like the kind of girl to rattle to easily either, " The first."  
  
Ryoko believed him and said, " Alright, but if I have a nightmare again, I'm gonna hit you in the head when you walk in."  
  
Knucks smiled, " Fair enough. Good night"  
  
Ryoko smiled and gripped his hand tighter, " It better be."  
  
  
  
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Knucks' eyes snapped open and he sat up like lightning. He expected to hear Ryoko screaming but instead, he just felt something was amiss. He got up and shook the sleep from his eyes. He opened his door and walked down the hallway. He stopped at the stairs and looked over the railing down to the living room. He now knew what he found odd, it was quiet in the house. The drunken party had calmed as all the participants had fallen asleep. He started to walk back when he noticed the front door was open. He walked down the stairs and to the door. He grabbed a bottake and walked out the door. He looked around from the front step and saw nothing but shadows. He was going to go back inside, but the uncomfortable feeling he had before grew suddenly. He took a few more steps into the darkness and he could make out a figure. He raised his bottake and asked the shadow, " Who are you? Show yourself!"  
  
The figure walked towards Knucks with a sword in his hand, a pitch black sword with a red outline that was the only indication that it was even there. The handle looked to be made of wood and half of it disappeared into a gloved hand. " You need not concern yourself with my name. You are but an insect in my way."  
  
Knucks got in a ready position with his bottake that seemed useless against his laser sword. This mystery guy sounded petty sure that he was going to win this battle. Knucks wanted to prove him wrong.  
  
Knucks saw the man leap forward and bring his sword down. Knucks rolled out of the way and swung his sword up to the mans midsection. He phased through Knucks' bottake came around and slapped him with his hand. Knucks flew back but landed on his feet. He was totally off guard for this fighters ability to phase, just like Ryoko. He decided to forget about it for now and try to attack him. He used his speed technique to try and get a hit on this guy. He swung his bottake for the mans lower abdomen and hit him. The man flew back a few feet before landing and sliding on his butt. The man sounded winded but still hopped to his feet and sprung forward. Knucks continued his technique and struck the mans sword arm this time. He switched his sword to his unhurt arm and back sliced and caught Knucks' back. Knucks quickly speeded away for a seconds rest but didn't find it. He dodged the mans attack quickly and started to make an after image of himself. The man fell for it and swung straight through the smok image of Knucks. Knucks quickly took advantage by spinning his sword all the way around his body to snap it over the man's skull. The man fell to one knee but hopped back up and sped over to attack Knucks. Knucks Couldn't move fast enough to counter the attack and the mans sword went straight through Knucks' left shoulder. Knucks shouted in pain but didn't fall. The man saw this and became angered. He sprung forward again and stabbed Knucks right through his lower abdomen. While still on the blade, the man whispered something to Knucks, " You wanna know who I am? I am the last person you will ever see. Remember this name and take it to hell with you. I am Kagato."  
  
An arrow hit Kagato in the shoulder as Yosho had come, followed closely by Tenchi and the girls. Kagato fled the scene and let Knucks' body hit the ground. Knucks was on the verge of losing consciousness when the others came over to help him. He couldn't make out any faces but heard jumbled voices of his helpers. The last thought he had was that of vengeance, " Kagato." He whispered as he passed out from the pain. 


	6. Uncertainties of the Brave

Kagato phased into his space ship with a smile on his evil face. He had done little to accomplish his actual goal, but had made up for it and more with the death of Knucks. Kagato sat at his computer screen and his smile grew as he watched Ryoko, and the other little nuisances, try and save Knucks. They would still try to save him, but would find soon enough that Kagato had just killed their best chance for survival. Over all, he had failed by not collecting data from Tenchi or Washu. He had rushed to quickly into killing that he forgot about his plans, but he had also succeeded in a way. He then felt a trickle of blood run down the spot where Knucks had smashed a bottake over his head. He whipped it away with his glove and thought that he shouldn't of killed Knucks. Not because of the experiment, but because that he wanted to make him suffer more than any human could stand. He decided that it was to late now and grabbed the full bottle of wine he had saved for after his victory, but now seemed as good a time as any. He grabbed the bottle and popped the cork. He filled his glass and decided that his victory was here and now-  
  
' You're a fool if you underestimate them now. Knucks was just one person and he didn't even have a real sword. Tell me, what makes you think that he is dead anyways?'  
  
That voice! The voice of doubt always ruined his fun, but it also made him realize that he was jumping the gun a little bit. He switched his computer screen to the camera that was still following Knucks around. The screen was switched, and so was Kagato's mood. Knucks was in a vat of green liquid that filled the giant cylinder he occupied. The injury he had sustained in their battle was slowly healing. Kagato zoomed in on a display screen next to Knucks' healing chamber. It read, " Will recover in: 5 Hours 15min."   
  
Kagato zoomed back out and tried to control his raging temper. He felt the wine glass crushing and cracking from his grip. It finally smashed in his hand and sent the fine wine that filled it splashing to the ground. He quickly regained his composure and weighed his options. He had gathered little information about Knucks while fighting him, and even if he had, it would've been useless because Knucks still had his weights on. Kagato also concurred that Knucks would've done different things if he had a real sword. He then thought of the help that Knucks had behind him: Yosho, Tenchi, Washu, and he couldn't forget, Ryoko. He could take care of Yosho and Tenchi and maybe Washu, but he couldn't take on two enraged powers like Ryoko and Knucks. He couldn't believe that he now thought of Knucks as a challenge-  
  
' Because you can't remember the last time you bled. Knucks drew your untouchable blood and had splattered it on the holy ground that you walk on.'  
  
Kagato was getting very tired of his inner voice always being right and its sarcastic tone. Kagato was near panic when he remembered who he was. He was the man who had, single handedly, destroyed the top powers in this galaxy. He had even had the great Ryoko do his bidding for him. However, now that he looked at Knucks, he remembered his most glorious moments. Those moments that he would use against Knucks to Kagato's advantage. The exact moments in which Kagato had killed each of Knucks' family members. His foolish father, his power drunk mother, and the revenge thirsty sister all fell to his sword. Kagato smiled widely at the thought of sending Knucks to meet them.  
  
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Ryoko slept peacefully in her bed. She had no nightmares, no flashes and no haunting faces, but was awoken by Tenchi pounding on her door. He told her to get up and to get downstairs, and that he thought Knucks was in trouble. Ryoko didn't plan of moving to fast until she heard that Knucks might've been in trouble. That shot her up and forced her to phase into her clothes and rush downstairs.   
  
Tenchi had been the first one out the door but Ryoko was the first to Knucks' side. She saw the injury to his gut and shoulder. He had rolled his head around and groaned something, but had passed out soon after she arrived. Tenchi told her to get him to Washu's lab. Ryoko didn't hesitate and threw Knucks over her shoulder as carefully as possible. She then rushed to Washu's lab, already fearing the worst for her new acquaintance.  
  
Ryoko phased to Washu's lab and didn't see the scientist. She was in a very big rush so she shouted for Washu to answer her. She caught her voice in her head and followed her mother's directions. Washu was already expecting him and pointed to a large cylinder ready for him. The cylinder had a few cords in it and at least a thousand gallons of green goo. Washu instructed her to reach into the goo and get the few floating cords and attach them to Knucks' arms. Ryoko reached into the cold goo and snatched the cords. She quickly attached them to Knucks and lowered him into the cold healing chamber. She lowered him all the way in and found that while letting Knucks slip into the vat of sludge, she couldn't help but think that she was letting him go for the last time. She hated the feeling and hesitated when asked to close the lid. She remembered the moments they had shared and asked Washu, " Can you save him? Please tell me you can save him."  
  
Washu looked her daughter dead in the eye and said, " Ryoko, he is going to live through this for you." She gave her a wink and a smile and reassured her, " Wouldn't want my daughter being lonely again would I?"  
  
Ryoko blushed slightly and smiled back at her mother. She was the only one that knew anything about Knucks' and Ryoko's relationship and Ryoko had the feeling that her crazy mother would play a part in it sooner or later.  
  
Ryoko closed the lid shut on Knucks and hovered next to Washu as she started up the machine. It hummed to life as Washu typed countless commands into her machine. She looked over her shoulder and noticed Ryoko hovering and pointed to the door, " I can't have any distractions if I'm gonna do this right."  
  
Ryoko was a little surprised at this, " Why?" Ryoko looked at Washu, but didn't get an answer. She decided to just come back later, " When can I come back then?"  
  
Washu typed a few more commands into her keyboard and a clock appeared in front of Ryoko, " This is when you can come back in. That's when I think Knucks will be healed. Until then, tell everybody that my lab is off limits."  
  
Ryoko took the watch and read it. She saw a fixed time on the small watch, 8:15 is what it read. Ryoko slowly walked out of the lab without a backward glance.  
  
---  
  
Ryoko now sat in the living room, trying her best to think of something other than Knucks. It was now three in the morning, about two hours after the incident. Nobody was able to get back to sleep after they heard about Knucks. Even Ayeka looked a little bit worried about him. Ryoko sat there, staring into her hand and thinking about anything she could. Tenchi walked over and sat next to Ryoko, " Hey Ryoko. I didn't think that you'd be this worried about Knucks."  
  
Ryoko looked up at Tenchi and saw, for the first time, how distant from each other they had become ever since Knucks arrived. They hadn't had a real conversation, nor had Ryoko fought with Ayeka over him, ever since he came. " Of course I'm worried. He's a friend right?"  
  
Tenchi gave her a curt nod and noticed Ryoko's evasion form answering the question right away, " You alright Ryoko?"  
  
Ryoko looked at him and gave the best smile she could, " Yeah, I'm good. I just was sleeping peacefully for once and I'm a little tired."  
  
Tenchi still felt that there was more to this than she said, but her face gave away nothing, so he didn't push it, " Well… If you ever want to talk, you know I'm here for you."  
  
Tenchi got up to and walked towards the kitchen. Ryoko thought about Tenchi's sudden concern for her feelings. She decided that Tenchi was just being Tenchi and was just concerned. She thought about telling him about her and Knucks, but decided that the time wasn't right yet and to ask her mother about telling him. She was surprised that she no longer felt the warmth in her heart when she thought of Tenchi. On the tail of that, Knucks flashed through her head and she felt the warmth. She knew that Knucks would be her warmth, instead of Tenchi. If he ever got out of that freaking goo.  
  
---  
  
Washu rubbed at her weary eyes and sat back in her seat. Knucks' new home hummed on while it attempted to heal him. She had been trying to get a little background information on him while he unconsciously healed. She had found zilch, notta, nothing, zero information about him. She had run his name through all of her programs, but absolutely nothing came up. Not so much as a relative. She definitely had some questions when he healed fully and she wanted the answers to be good.   
  
She had no idea who had attacked him, but it was someone very, very proficient with a sword. She glanced at Knucks and thought of his bravery. She wondered his reason for being out that late, but will more than likely know soon enough. She walked over to Knucks' stasis tank and stared at his floating form.   
  
' This is the man that my daughter likes? Good taste.' Washu smiled at the thought. She had always wanted her little girl to be happy and Tenchi was just to shy. Ryoko had been here three years and had told her multiple times that she was tired of waiting for Tenchi to make up his mind. Washu agreed and was happy now that Ryoko seemed to have found someone else to pine over-  
  
Washu let out a little yelp as Knucks kicked the glass. She was shocked to see him conscious and fully healed. Washu quickly went to open the latch on the top of the stasis tub. She got to the top of it and yanked the latch open. Knucks shot his head out for air and tried to get the goo out of his eyes, " You trying to kill me?" Washu didn't get what he said at first because his voice was to low.   
  
" The opposite actually. I'm trying to save you." She pulled him onto the platform above the tub and let him breath a little bit before questioning him.   
  
He looked up at her with a smile and asked, " Do you know that you can't breath in there?"  
  
Wash nodded and said, " Yup, but I didn't expect you to wake up so soon. I was waiting to experiment on you again."   
  
Knucks chuckled at that and looked around her lab, " Sounds like fun."  
  
---  
  
Knucks wiped the goo off of him with the towel Washu had given him. He thought of Kagato and the nearly fatal blow he had given Knucks. He now ran his hand over where the wound had been and felt the area was no different form the rest of his abdomen. He put back on his shirt and thought of the blow that he had given Kagato. He shouldn't of been bale to walk away from the fight with a shot to the head like that. Knucks had put everything he had into that swing, and had phased him for a second or two. A very disconcerting thought.  
  
He opened the door and walked to where Washu now sat, waiting to start the " interview," she had called it. She had he computer in front of her and motioned for Knucks to sit down, " I want to ask you some questions. I would also like some decent answers."  
  
" Shoot." Knucks sat in the chair and readied for the questions.  
  
" Where are you from? Do you have any family?"  
  
Knucks knew she was going to start out with a hard question or two, " I'm from the planet called Epha and no family members anymore."  
  
" Anymore?"  
  
" My parents and sister were killed by a maniac."  
  
It was obvious Knucks wasn't going to give anymore information than was needed, " Same time?"  
  
It was obvious that Washu was never going to ask another full question again, " Nope."  
  
Washu typed a few things into her computer and continued, " Why are you all the way out here?"  
  
He stood corrected, " Trying to catch the guy who did it."  
  
" Do you know who it was that killed them?"  
  
" Nope. Kind of a "Find the Whacko in the Universe" game."  
  
" I know the feeling," Washu figured that if she opened up a little, he would too. " See. I traveled all over the universe trying to find Ryoko when Kagato took her. Never found her and got captured in the process."  
  
Knucks heard that name and he felt hatred creep into his heart, " He gets around doesn't he."  
  
" What do you mean?"  
  
Washu knew what he was going to say before he said it, " The guy who attacked me last night was Kagato."  
  
Washu knew exactly what that meant and the danger they were all now in. Kagato was trying to get Ryoko's gems and use the power in some psychotic way. She swallowed hard and realized that she hadn't prepared for this yet, " Thanks for the info. Tell everybody that my lab is off limits until I come out. See ya."  
  
Washu rushed Knucks out the door and locked it behind him. She ran to her terminal, hoping that she wasn't to late.  
  
---  
  
Knucks stumbled out of Washu's lab and into the living room. Three smiling faces quickly noticed him and ran towards him. Sasami grabbed his leg and asked if I was alright, Ayeka stood in front of him and asked the same question, and Ryoko walked up to him and hugged his upper half. He embraced both girls, but enjoyed Ryoko's infinitely more than little Sasami's vice like hug.   
  
They let go of him and Sasami brought to his attention that he stank. He figured it was probably the goo smell lingering on his skin and clothes. He would definitely have to take a shower before he went anywhere today.  
  
" What're you doing out so soon? It's only four thirty. Your not supposed to be out till eight fifteen."  
  
Knucks looked into Ryoko's eyes and saw caring and happiness. This gave him the urge to hold her, but he resisted, remembering who was in the room with them. He just kept the warm feeling inside of him and responded, " Apparently, I'm a fast healer."  
  
" I was sooo worried about you Knucks. Don't you ever do that again you hear?" Little Sasami's voice boomed in his ears. He smiled down at her and nodded his head while rubbing the top of her head.  
  
" Yes mame."   
  
He looked towards the Kitchen doorway and saw Tenchi looking on with a smile. He walked over and asked how he was while patting his back. He then said, " We were worried about ya."  
  
" I was more worried about who attacked you."  
  
Knucks looked to the corner of the living room and saw Grandpa rise form his sitting position as he spoke, " You have great skill, yet he struck you down easily."  
  
Knucks felt his ego deflate as Grandpa spoke, " Yeah, but I wasn't using my full power."  
  
Grandpa didn't seem surprised at the statement, but Ryoko now gave him a weird look, " Why didn't you use your full power against him in the first place? You might've beaten who ever that guy was."  
  
Knucks thought he should let his name into the open, " It was Kagato and I thought it would be easy-"  
  
He stopped in mid sentence and looked at the now grim expressions on his friend's face's. Even Grandpa looked deep in thought and somewhat sad, " He isn't that hard to beat. I'm pretty sure I could beat him with my full power."  
  
Ryoko straightened out her expression and looked Knucks dead in the eye, " Do not underestimate this guy Knucks. He could kill all of us in a flash if he wanted to-"  
  
" - and what makes you so sure you could beat him anyways. You cannot even beat me, let alone him."  
  
He turned towards Grandpa and recoiled, " I've never used my full strength against you either," he turned towards the girls now, " and if we let him intimidate us, then he's already won."  
  
Sasami now hoped on the band wagon, " Yeah! We can beat'em!"  
  
Ryoko walked up to him and asked, " Why do you want to help us?"  
  
Knucks thought about that question before answering, " Because you guys have helped me in more than one way. I'm gonna try and repay the favor. Not to mention that I hate that guy."  
  
Ryoko smiled and said, " Yeah, well join the club."  
  
---  
  
They only talked about Kagato a few more minutes before they realized that it was to early to worry that much. Everybody except Sasami, Ryoko and Knucks went back to sleep. Knucks knew he was tired, but insisted on staying up to think. He now sat on the couch and thought of Kagato. He thought of whether or not he really could defeat him. He felt that the time would come when they would find out.  
  
Ryoko walked in from the kitchen and sat near Knucks on the couch. Knucks smiled at her and received one in return. He felt he should break the silence, but couldn't think of anything to say. She broke it for him, " Hi. You feelin alright?"  
  
Knucks smiled as he noticed how slap happy he felt, " Yup, I'm super. You?"  
  
Ryoko reached out, grabbed his hand and held it, " I'm better now. I was worried about you. I thought you weren't going to make it."  
  
Knucks entwined his fingers with hers and looked at her and noticed that she had changed clothes since he last saw her. She now wore her blue and green striped dress with a black undershirt and a dark sash that she tied tightly below her breasts. She was looking at the floor until she noticed him looking at her, " See something you like?"  
  
Knucks laughed and responded truthfully, " Maybe. Is that and offer?"  
  
Ryoko smiled and moved closer to him on the couch, " Three hours out of the tube and-"  
  
She was cut off by Knucks' warm lips. The electricity of his kiss was as potent as the night before but this time, Ryoko knew that this kiss meant more. She thought he was gone and here he was, practically eating her lips off.  
  
Knucks broke away abruptly and Ryoko felt insulted. She was going to say something but saw his eyes wandering off behind her and turned around to see little Sasami frozen and blushing in the kitchen doorway. Ryoko smiled wide and appeared next to Sasami, " What's wrong Sasami? Haven't you ever seen people kiss before?"  
  
Sasami now blushed to a tomato red and stammered, " Well, uh, no….but I, uh, thought, um, that you liked Tenchi?"  
  
Ryoko didn't expect Sasami to say that and didn't know how to explain the new development to her. She tried to come up with a quick answer, " Well… ya see-"  
  
" - ya see, Ryoko found out that Tenchi fell in love with you not her. She over heard him talking with his Grandpa and instead of cry about it, she came to me and found that their were other good guys than Tenchi around."  
  
Sasami now beamed with happiness, and the Grand Canyon had nothing on her smile, " He really likes me?"  
  
Ryoko smiled at Knucks and added, " He sure does, but you can't let anybody know, not even Tenchi or he could stop liking you."  
  
Sasami put her hand over her mouth, " I won't tell anybody. I swear."  
  
" Then hurry along and think about your wedding with him."  
  
Sasami ran into the kitchen giggling as Knucks and Ryoko took each others hand again. They walked back to the couch smiling and sat back down as close as they could to each other. Her warm body on top of his made him feel the sleep starting to take him, " I better go take a shower before I go to sleep."  
  
" You want some company?" She winked seductively again and helped him to his feet.  
  
" They would definitely catch on to us if we did. I'll go it alone today."  
  
He started to walk towards the stairs, but found himself anchored down by Ryoko, " What ya doing after your shower?"  
  
Knucks smiled again, " Sleep sounds good."  
  
That reminded Ryoko about the sleep that she had gotten. She wanted to sleep with him, but decided hat it was a long shot, seeing how tired he was. She got off of his back and moved to the front of him. She took both of his hands and said, " I was actually sleeping last night. I didn't even roll around. I just…. slept."  
  
Knucks looked into her eyes and saw that she was pretty grateful for that, " I told you. I'm happy that you can sleep in peace again."  
  
Ryoko hugged him softly now, " Try and have a good nap. Maybe, we can do something when you wake up."  
  
" Sounds like fun." Knucks pulled her close and engulfed her lips with his. ' This will never get old' Knucks thought to himself.  
  
They finished playing tonsil hockey and Knucks started to walk up the stairs, " See ya whenever."  
  
Ryoko looked up at him and smiled, " Wouldn't miss it."  
  
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The hot sun beat down on the back of his neck as he raised his sword to his enemy. The lush green trees swayed in the wind as the two enemies stared each other down. Suddenly, the wind picked up violently and the trees became darkness. A dark he had never seen before now spread its way around the battle field. Knucks couldn't move and became a bit frightened. All he could do was stare ahead and try to guess what kind of danger the darkness held. He stared hard and saw his enemy from before. Knucks stood and watched as his enemy grew taller, and taller, and taller. Knucks became more frightened with every foot that his adversary grew. Knucks tried to find the top of his enemy, but he could only look up to his knees before the darkness hid the rest of his body. The shadow dweller took a baby step forward and closed the ten foot gap between them. Knucks looked up and saw two red eyes glaring down at him. They came closer as he bent down and showed his evil face. Kagato, with his glaring eyes, gave him a smile and an evil laugh that filled his head and soul. A red outline appeared out of the darkness and came rushing at him-  
  
" Knucks! Will you wake up!?"  
  
Knucks snapped his eyes open and grabbed a wrist, that was attached to a warm hand on his face. He looked around and found himself in his room and no danger around. He looked at the owner of the wrist he was holding, and looked into Ryoko's eyes, " Sorry… Bad dream."  
  
He let her wrist flow out of his hand and grabbed her hand instead, " You just scared me a little." She sat down next to him on the bed and held his hand, " What kind of bad dream did ya have?"  
  
Knucks looked up at her and couldn't help but feel, what might've been, love for her. He moved her closer to his head and pulled her head to his, " Don't worry about me. I'm fine and the dream was just a dream. Besides, we have better things to talk about."  
  
" Like what? Kagato attacking? I don't even want to hear about that."   
  
Ryoko seemed very sensitive about hearing about Kagato. He understood completely, and didn't want to push the matter any further, " No…there's no need to talk about him."  
  
He sounded a little to cocky for Ryoko's liking as she pulled away from his hand, " You are really underestimating him. He took Tenchi to the breaking point last time, and he is probably a lot stronger now."  
  
Knucks sat up and looked at the wall, " I'm stronger than Tenchi, and I think I can beat him."  
  
Ryoko turned around and looked towards the door, " Knucks don't be stupid. You can't defeat him alone." She turned towards him, " And if you try, you'll be killed!"  
  
Knucks felt another blow to his pride and tried to stick up for himself, " You don't know what I can do, and until you do, don't doubt me. I can beat him. You gotta trust me on this."  
  
Ryoko turned back towards the door and phased herself through, feet first. She stopped about half way through and stopped, " You were just beaten by him and you think you can beat him? I'm just trying to protect you, but I can see that you are going to get yourself killed anyways."  
  
She went all the way through his door and left Knucks to wallow in his grief. He stood up and walked towards the bottake in his room. He picked it up and thought of Ryoko. He replayed the image of her face as she told him of his probable fate. She must've hated him when she walked out. He had talked to her like she was inferior to him, and he now thought of himself as a monster. He realized that he was to cocky for his own liking, and that if he had this attitude towards this fight, he would lose. Knucks threw his bottake on his bed and couldn't believe that he had been so full of himself. He had chased away the girl that he liked, all because he thought he would get the victory, hands down.   
  
He needed to apologize to Ryoko, but he also needed to go to the fields and do some work. He decided that the apology would have to wait until that evening and started to walk towards his door. He slowly walked down the hallway, and walked down the stairs even slower. He saw Ryoko sitting on the couch, and knew that if he ever had a chance to apologize, this was it. He walked towards her and caught her attention. She looked into his eyes with nothing but emotionless eyes. Knucks knew she wasn't going to make this easy, but took a seat next to her anyways. He tied up his shoes and looked at her to see that she was staring back at him. Knucks knew that he had hurt her by the look she now gave him.  
  
Ryoko broke the silence first, " Where ya going?"  
  
Knucks kept his eyes trained with hers as he said, " It's my day to work the fields." He looked away and saw that he needed to leave soon, if he hoped to get home before dark, " Ryoko…I'm sorry for how I was up there. I guess, something I did went to my head and I thought it was going to be easy. More importantly, I wanna apologize for the way I treated you. I… didn't mean to hurt your feelings and never want to do it again."  
  
Ryoko now knew how much he cared for her, but the question in her mind was, was he really going to risk his life to save her? " Cool." She grabbed his hands and smiled wildly, " We'll do something when you get back tonight. Okay?"  
  
Knucks saw the wildness in her eyes and knew that she had already forgiven him, " Sounds great. I gotta go now. I'll be back in a few hours or so."  
  
" Alright, bye." Ryoko phased him through the door and set him on the ground outside. He jogged off and didn't even think to look back at her. Ryoko then jumped into the air and teleported right in front of him. She grabbed his tank top and pulled him in for a good bye kiss.  
  
  
  
------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
" OWWWWWW!" Tenchi grabbed his wrist and hopped around as his Grandpa watched and laughed. Tenchi stopped hopping and picked his bottake up, " That wasn't fair!"  
  
This line stopped Grandpa's laughing and brought him to a serious tone, " Tenchi, Kagato will use anything he can to stop you."  
  
Tenchi looked at him weirdly, " What do you mean Grandpa? What can he use against me?"  
  
" I mean Tenchi, that every dirty trick in the book is at his command. What if he uses Ryoko as a shield again? What will you do?"  
  
Tenchi thought of Ryoko and the pain and turmoil Kagato had put her through the last time they fought, " I…I would attack around her I guess."  
  
Grandpa looked at his grandson impassively. Tenchi had been slacking off quite a bit and wasn't sure of his ability level anymore, " Tenchi, I want you to fight Knucks."  
  
Tenchi looked at him, obviously shocked by the new turn of events, " Grandpa, why? Why do I have to duel him?"  
  
" Are you afraid Tenchi?"  
  
" No, no… I just don't see the reason for dueling him."  
  
Grandpa knew this news would hit Tenchi hard, but he had to say it, " Because Tenchi, I must make sure you are ready to face Kagato. You have been slacking in your training and it wouldn't surprise me if your ability level is dropping rather than rising. You will have to do this Tenchi, you and Knucks must now protect Ryoko. It is also because I am sick Tenchi."  
  
Tenchi, once again, had a surprised look on his face, " How sick Grandpa?"  
  
" I have a disease in my lungs. It's hard to explain, but I assure you, I will not die early because of a little virus. But it also means that I cannot fight this battle. You must rely on your abilities, and the abilities of Knucks."  
  
Tenchi believed him but, he couldn't believe that the man he for so many years, thought was invincible is now sick with some lung disease. " Grandpa, I don't know about Knucks, but I know that I will fight Kagato as long as I hold out."  
  
Grandpa smiled a bit, " Do you really doubt that Knucks will help our cause?"  
  
Tenchi looked at the ground and smiled, " No…I just didn't want to answer for him."  
  
" Of course I'll help."  
  
Tenchi spun his head around to see Knucks standing next to a tree. He had probably been there for a few minutes, at least. " Are you spying now?"  
  
Knucks walked over with a smile on his face, " No just hanging out." He shook Tenchi's and Grandpa's hand, " I heard something about a duel…"  
  
Grandpa threw Knucks a bottake, " Warm up and meet me out by the lake in a half hour. There, the whole house will see you duel."  
  
" Should they really see this Grandpa?"  
  
Grandpa looked at his grandson, " You must be comfortable in any situation, especially with your own friends watching."  
  
Grandpa walked away and left the to friends to warm up for their duel. " Sorry about this Knucks. I don't know why he wants us to duel."  
  
Knucks smiled and looked at Tenchi, " As long as it isn't to the death right?"  
  
Tenchi laughed, " I don't think he would go that far. I'm gonna go warm up on my own."  
  
" Alright, see you there."  
  
Tenchi walked off towards the stairs and started to quickly go down them. Knucks turned and started to wave his bottake around. This brought back memories of Kagato again, but Knucks still refused to give them any thought.   
  
He had gone through all of his warm-ups, when he saw Ryoko flying towards him. HE wondered what she was doing here, but saw a smile on her face, so it couldn't be that bad. Could it?   
  
She landed in front of him and spoke, " You warmed up yet?"  
  
Knucks smiled, " Just got finished. Are you always this happy?"  
  
Ryoko hugged Knucks hard now and lifted him off the ground, " Just when you're around."  
  
Knucks could hardly breath, but still found it in him to laugh, " I might need those ribs for my duel. And if I can't breath, how can I kiss?"  
  
Ryoko seemed to actually think about this for a second or two, " Good point. Your smarter than you look."  
  
She set Knucks down and released him from her grip, " I've been told that before. I never believed them though."  
  
" Well, don't let it go to your head." She smiled and leaned in to kiss Knucks. He followed her lead but felt like something was wrong. He stopped leaning, " Hey now! What's wrong with you now?!"  
  
Knucks smiled a bit and tilted his head towards the stairs. Ryoko looked that way and saw Tenchi staring at them with anything but happiness in his eyes.  
  
---  
  
Tenchi reached the top of the stairs, hoping to see Ryoko and hoping to be able to talk with her. What he saw made him feel as if he had been stabbed. He saw her and Knucks getting ready to kiss each other. Knucks must've noticed him because he stopped and tilted his head towards Tenchi. Ryoko looked his way and saw the hate and sorrow in his eyes. Knucks whispered something to her and she, slowly, flew away from the scene. Knucks faced Tenchi and locked his eyes with his, but Tenchi had expected to see pity in his eyes, but he was once again surprised. Knucks looked at him with sorrow in his eyes as well, like he was sorry for doing what he was going to do. Tenchi's anger towards Knucks faded away at seeing this. He couldn't believe that Knucks had Ryoko's heart before Tenchi, but was also a little happy for him.   
  
Knucks felt as if he should say something, " I'm sorry. I was going to tell you, about us , but I didn't think it was the right time."  
  
Tenchi felt the anger coming back on, " Yeah…well, I was going to find out sooner or later right?"  
  
Knucks heard the angry tone in his voice, but didn't know what else to say. He couldn't say anything to make the situation better. For the first time in his life, he was at a loss for words.  
  
" How bout our little duel? Yeah we'll settle this there. If I win, you give up Ryoko and never say more than 'Hi' to her again."  
  
Knucks now felt angry towards Tenchi for putting Ryoko into this, " What if I win?"  
  
" If you win? If you win…You and Ryoko can keep seeing each other."  
  
Knucks knew that this was a one-sided bet at best, " So… I'm all in here while you still have room for error?"  
  
Tenchi nodded his head, " Or you can just pack up and leave now. Your choice."  
  
Knucks never in his life would've thought that Tenchi could be this cruel. He felt as if he had stabbed Tenchi right in the back by doing this, but he wasn't going to give up Ryoko, " Alright. Our duel will decide this. See you in ten minutes."  
  
  
  
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Kagato couldn't believe his ears. His two top enemies where going to duel each other and give him all the data he needed on them. The old man being sick, these where the only two people who could possibly stop him now. Kagato had the largest smile on his face that he ever had before. If he was lucky enough, one or both of the duelers might die. He had over heard the two's little bet, and escalated the danger ever higher.   
  
He sat back in his chair and laid his sword across his lap. Knucks was the favorite in his eyes, but he had underestimated Tenchi last time he saw him in combat as well. Despite what Kagato thought, he felt that Knucks had more power than he had showed him. He might even bring out Kagato's full power.   
  
The entire Masaki household was now gathered around the lake to view the duel. Kagato laughed out loud and thought, ' This is going to be a show.'  
  
  
  
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Knucks walked to the lake and quickly saw his friends and Tenchi waiting for him. He walked to the dueling point and started to stretch his muscles. He looked around and saw Grandpa with something wrapped in a sheet in his hand. Knucks also saw the girls sitting on a near by hilltop, but he was only surprised to see Washu hovering an typing on her laptop. She must've found this duel to be pretty interesting if she left her lab for it.  
  
Both Tenchi and Knucks knew this fight was for more than glory. For them, it was about Ryoko, and the love they both shared for her. ' This might get a little brutal.' Knucks thought.   
  
" Alright! Let's get this duel started. Simple rules: the first person to get their opponent in a killing position, wins. Everybody ready? Fight!"  
  
Tenchi sprang forward at speeds Knucks had never seen him move before. Knucks raised his sword and blocked an over head swing. Knucks moved quickly and swung his sword at Tenchi's arm, only to have Tenchi duck and knee him in the stomach. Knucks doubled over and got a bottake on the side of the head for it. He flew a few feet and landed on his stomach. Knucks got up and knew that Tenchi wasn't playing around anymore. Knucks removed his tank top and threw on to a nearby rock. The medium sized rock collapsed from the thousand pound shirt that had landed on it. Everybody seemed shocked, all but Ryoko and Tenchi. Knucks had expected Tenchi to be a little surprised, but he seemed in good control of his emotions. Knucks readied again as Tenchi charged him, and tried to use a speed burst of his own. Knucks saw him move and blocked his shot with ease. Tenchi tried to follow up with a shot to his side, but Knucks simply moved to the back of Tenchi and swung his bottake into his back. Tenchi flew into a nearby tree and fell slumped at the bottom.   
  
He got up after a few moments, and changed into a type of battle armor Knucks had never seen before. It resembled Ayeka's robe, except, he was now much more powerful. Tenchi ran at him again, but this time, Knucks made a conscious effort to block him. Tenchi followed up with shot after shot, but couldn't find an opening. Finally, Tenchi saw one. He kneed Knucks in the chin, and jumped to meet his prone body. He swung his sword from his feet in a complete circle, ending when it hit Knucks with a devastating blow. Knucks' body bounced on the ground before it lay still, seemingly unconscious. Tenchi landed a few feet from him and looked down at him. Knucks then sprang up and tripped Tenchi with his leg. Knucks stood up a little more and swung his bottake, hard, at Tenchi's upper body. He connected and sent Tenchi to the ground. Knucks didn't want to show Tenchi his full potential yet, but he might have to to pull away with the victory. Tenchi stood up and was obviously in a lot of pain, yet, he still ran at Knucks and tried to catch his arm with a swipe, but Tenchi was now to hurt to contend with Knucks. Knucks grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back while putting his bottake to Tenchi's throat.  
  
Grandpa saw this and shouted, " Well… It seems we have a winner!"  
  
Knucks let Tenchi go, and went down to one knee. He had never fought so hard in his life, but knew that he his limits weren't breached yet. He abolished this thought and thought of more important things, like how Tenchi was doing. He looked over and saw Ayeka, Mihoshi and Washu attending to him. Sasami, Ryoko and Grandpa where at Knucks' side, helping him up and brushing him off. Ryoko held him up as Grandpa gave him the object in the sheet, " This is now yours. It was my practice sword for many years. I think you can use it more than I, now."  
  
Knucks took the sheet and unraveled the white string that held the sheet on the weapon. The sheet fell to the ground and revealed a leather scabbard, and a metal handle with silver and black designs running all around it. Knucks took the handle and pulled it from the scabbard to see a his new sword.  
  
" Titanium, with an acid cut edge. A very light weapon, but a special one no than less. Ryoko, would you please bring out your laser sword?"  
  
Ryoko let Knucks stand on his own and brought out her sword. A red glow emitted from it as it hovered in her hand, " Please, swing the sword at Knucks."  
  
Knucks was a little surprised at this command, "And Knucks, defend her attack with your new sword. Go ahead."  
  
Ryoko swung her sword lightly at Knucks, and Knucks' sword actually stopped hers. He couldn't believe that this sword was capable of stopping a laser sword. " How? How can I block her sword?"  
  
Grandpa chuckled, " This sword takes the life force of the holder and puts it into its blade. This makes it unbreakable, and if you ever find out how, you can use this as an attack."  
  
Knucks swung his new play thing lightly and found that all the weight was in the blade. The handle must've been hollow, but felt as solid as a rock. He heard the sword cut the air around him as he swung it. " Thanks. This will come in handy."  
  
He walked over to Tenchi and helped him to his feet. Tenchi looked him in the eye, " You win. Congratulations."  
  
Knucks knew that they were still friends, " Thanks for giving me the fight of my life." Knucks supported Tenchi's weight and walked him back to the house.  
  
---  
  
Ryoko stared on as Knucks and Tenchi fought one another. She had been worried many times during the match that one of them were killed by a previous shot, but was relieved when they got back to their feet. To her, it seemed that they went way beyond a friendly rivalry, but it was probably just her imagination.   
  
Ryoko saw Knucks' shirt on the ground and picked it up. She noticed a small drop of blood on it and started to worry about him. She looked at him carry Tenchi home and thought, ' What am I worrying about? I should be more worried about tomorrow.' She had plans for Knucks tomorrow evening and she wanted them done right. Her and Knucks were going on the town tomorrow, and she wanted it to be romantic. She wondered if Knucks would even want to go, or if he would turn her down. She was thinking to much, and thinking was never her strong suit anyways.  
  
She floated in the air and flew ahead to catch up with the gang. They were already inside, and Knucks was up in his room. She decided to wait until he got out to ask him about the tomorrow nights events. She still found it strange that she liked him over Tenchi when Tenchi had known her for three years, and him only four days now.   
  
' Because you have known him for three years. He has put you and Ayeka through torture because he wants to be shy and cute. Now, you have a better guy. Now you have Knucks.'  
  
Her inner voice raged on and shouted to her all the reasons that Knucks was better than Tenchi. All she needed to know was that Knucks made her feel happier then Tenchi ever did before. That was a good enough reason for her.  
  
Knucks emerged from his room and saw Ryoko leaning on the wall next to his door. She looked up at him and smiled her usual wicked smile. Knucks smiled back and reached out for her hand. She let him grab hers and then asked, " What're your plans tomorrow?"  
  
Knucks looked into her eyes and kissed her cheek, " Nothing. Why?"  
  
Ryoko felt a warm spot where he had kissed her, " Cause I wanted to take you in to town tomorrow night. I guess you could call it a date."  
  
Knucks knew that she would ask him eventually, yet, he still felt his knees go a little weak at the thought of them on a date, " Sure. Why not."  
  
Ryoko let out the breath she had been holding in while he pondered his answer. She felt butterflies in her stomach flutter as she heard him say yes, " Cool. How about at six tomorrow then?"  
  
" Alrighty, See ya then?"  
  
Ryoko grabbed his arm and pulled him close for a hug, " You bet you will."  
  
----------------------------------------------------  
  
Kagato wore a neutral expression when seeing the outcome of the duel. Tenchi survived his defeat while Knucks still hadn't shown his true power. Tenchi had gotten a bit stronger since the last time they fought. Kagato knew that he would give him a good warm up-  
  
' Now you underestimate Tenchi. He defeated you last time, and now he has other power to help him. If you go in over confident, you will die this time.'  
  
He wished so bad that he could turn that voice off. It always gave him a headache and did nothing but delay his thoughts. It always forced him to re-think his plans, and to re-check his attitude.   
  
Kagato now paced his glass floor and thought of a good way to dispatch them both. If he showed his full potential, he could take one down, but he would be to weak to fight the other right away.  
  
' Now you do the worst thing of all, you underestimate yourself. Use your head, or, just use Ryoko to fight them instead.'  
  
He now knew why he even listened to that frail voice in the first place. Every now and then , it gave him extraordinary advice. He would use Ryoko to fight Knucks and Tenchi while he slowly drained her power form her. It was genius.   
  
His head now filled with the list of things he had planned to use this new power on. He had planned to keep Yosho for a pet dog, and the princesses as his loyal servants. Washu would do all of his work for him, and create new weapons for him to use. Tenchi, if he survived Ryoko, would be his own personal punching bag for all of eternity. Knucks won't survive to see any of this if he crossed Kagato's path. Kagato would have Ryoko hurt him, and then he would finish the job.  
  
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" 


	7. Obscurities of the Brave

A cold shiver ran down his spine as Knucks awoke to a cold, dreary room. He sat up and rubbed at his arms to get a little heat. He found his bed covers on the ground and quickly wrapped himself in them. He remembered the cold night before when Washu and himself had walked around the house a few times, exchanging past stories. He had gotten to know Washu a little more, and had some embarrassing stories of Ryoko to boot. He breathed out warm air and saw it puff in a cloud of steam before disappearing. He let the covers fall to the ground again, and noticed that he and overreacted about the cold. He guessed it at a conservative thirty degrees, but had acted like it was minus thirty. He got up to open his blinds, and he saw a good five inches of snow on the ground. It was a white paradise, and Sasami was out playing in it. She looked up to his window and waved, with that big smile of hers, he waved back and smiled himself. She had Ryo-oki almost all the way covered in a big snowball and had put her on top of a snowman's body. Knucks chuckled and closed the blinds.  
  
He walked over to his tank top and threw it over his shoulder. He found that he enjoyed the cold; it made him feel more powerful than heat. He figured there was a reason for this, and barely gave it any thought. He sat back down on his bed and thought about Ryoko, and their date tonight. He was pretty nervous about it, and he didn't know what she expected of him. He might condemn his chances with her by screwing up once tonight. He didn't want that to happen, so he went over where he would take her tonight in his head. He figured that the best place to take her first would be dinner. He only knew bars in Okiyama, so he would have to go into town today to look around. Next, he would have to think of something fun for them to do together. Maybe a game room, or perhaps the museum. He hit himself in the head when he thought of Ryoko, or himself for that matter, being interested in going to the freaking museum. He figured that they would probably end up drinking Sake at a bar somewhere. He wasn't exactly against that since he hadn't had a drink in a week.  
  
He heard a knock at his door and slipped into his tank top. He opened the screen, and stood in front of Ryoko. She wore an unusually big smile and held a bottle of something in her hand, " Morning! Can I come in?"  
  
Knucks smiled at her and moved out of the doorway, " What do I owe this pleasure?"  
  
She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her head against his chest. Knucks embraced her and closed his eyes to get the full effect of her bodily warmth. She looked up at him and answered, " Like you didn't want to see me. I came up to get us ready for tonight. You want a drink?"  
  
She held up the bottle she had been holding and shoved it towards him. He was tempted to take the bottle, but he restrained himself and moved her hand aside, " How bout we save that till a decent hour in the day? Besides, I have things to do today and they are very hard when I'm drunk."  
  
Ryoko smiled and put the bottle on the ground. She still wanted to have a drink, but the longing for it dissipated without him. She hadn't even been drunk for two nights now, " Fair enough. You ready for tonight?"  
  
Knucks smiled, " Of course I am. I can't wait."  
  
Ryoko looked into his eyes and saw nothing but happiness. She felt happy just looking at them, " Good. Me too."  
  
They took each other's hand and danced around the room a little bit. Knucks heard sizzling from the kitchen below and he knew little Sasami would be coming to get them sooner or later, " We should go downstairs before Sasami gets us."  
  
Ryoko put on a playful frown and responded, " Alright….I get it. You don't want to hang out with me anymore. Fine, go ahead."  
  
Her voice dripped with sarcasm and her play frown made him smile, " I never said that. I just don't want them to know about us yet. I want you all to my self."  
  
She turned her frown upside down and leaned into his mouth. They had a long, very enjoyable, kiss. They heard footsteps coming down the hallway and froze until they passed. Yet another moment killed by their companions, " Well, so much for that."  
  
Ryoko smiled and remained close to him. She had another flavor on her breath this morning, a sort of strawberry. He tasted his lips and noticed the same taste now on his tongue. She seemed to have something new for him everyday, " I'm gonna go down stairs and talk to Tenchi real quick."  
  
" Alright, I'll be down in a few. Don't forget about tonight." She smiled as she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.   
  
" How could I?"  
  
---  
  
Knucks stood on the front porch, admiring the beauty of the snow. He looked around at the snow, both falling and already on the ground. Sasami ran by him with Ryo-oki close behind. They seemed to be in the middle of a snowball fight. He smiled as he taunted Sasami to hit him with one. She rolled one up nice and tight and launched it at him, but Knucks ducked. The ball went through the open screen, over the diner table, and straight into the face of Ayeka as she was walking into the living room. Knucks stepped into the room quickly and closed the screen door behind him. Ayeka wiped the snow off her face, revealing a very, very angry face. Knucks smiled innocently at her and thought that it was better to take the blame then rat out Sasami, " I didn't mean it Ayeka. I was just throwing snow around with Sasami and one slipped away from me."  
  
She walked a few angry steps towards him before raising her voice, " Well, I hope you get very sick for being outside with such little clothing on! You should be ashamed for hitting me with snow! I could get sick myself now-"  
  
" Could you scream just a little louder princess?!"  
  
Ryoko yelled in the princess's ear as she started to phase through the wooden walkway over her head, " I could only hear you from Okiyama! A little louder and they might hear you in Tokyo!"  
  
Knucks smiled as he walked into the kitchen. They were back at each other's throats, and not a moment to soon. Tenchi jogged past the two feuding ladies, and stumbled into the kitchen. Knucks saw him and smiled, " Got through them without a scratch."  
  
Tenchi smiled, " Yeah, on a lucky day."  
  
Knucks took another drink of milk and handed Tenchi a glass to fill with juice, " I think we're on our own for breakfast today. Sasami is having a blast in the snow." He pointed towards the backdoor, and Sasami, who was now trying to bury Ryo-oki again, " I doubt Ryo-oki likes it, but Sasami is having a blast."   
  
Tenchi smiled and walked over to the oven, " I know." He pointed down to a pot of soup on the oven, already simmering, "By the way, for some reason, Grandpa said that we wouldn't train today. I guess he wants us to reflect on yesterday or something."  
  
Knucks also saw this as an unusual move for Grandpa, " Weird. I'm not complaining if he want to give us a day off though."  
  
" Amen."  
  
Knucks nodded towards Tenchi and walked into the living room. He ducked under Ryoko's left hook and sat down on the couch. He figured that with the day free, he would go to town early and get back at a reasonable time, and never be missed. He might have to settle for the first fancy restaurant he saw, if he hoped to make the date. He didn't want to rush his restaurant decision, but he didn't have much of a choice. He would have to leave in a few minutes to find the trail to town and start his trek early.   
  
A loud clang knocked him from his thinking, as did the moans of pain from Ryoko and Ayeka. Sasami had come in from playing and stopped their fighting with one swift swing of a frying pan. Ayeka stumbled back and Ryoko rubbed the back of her head as they listened to Sasami preach. Both of the girls sat on either side of Knucks on the couch. He thought he heard Sasami put them in time out, or she could've just threatened their dinners.  
  
Knucks got up and walked up the stairs to his room. He prepared himself for the journey to Okiyama. He thought about bringing his sword with him, but he didn't want him to seem threatening while there. He threw his sword on the bed and left his room. He walked down to practically the same scene as when he had left. Both of the girls were fuming on the couch while Sasami started helping Tenchi with breakfast. He wanted to make a quiet escape, but was caught by Ayeka, " Where are you going?"  
  
He turned around to face her, " Out for a walk."  
  
She grabbed a near by blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders, " Do you mind if I join you for a bit?"  
  
Knucks figured that he could kill two birds with one walk. He could finally get on Ayeka's good side, and be halfway to Okiyama before she turned back, " Sounds like fun. Let's go."  
  
Ryoko phased in front of them and held her arms up, " Hold on a minute little missy! What do you think you're doing!? Hmmmmmmmm?"  
  
Ayeka smiled, " I'm going to get to know this young man. You are not invited, nor wanted around. Stay here and drink, or whatever you do when you're bored."  
  
Ryoko backed up a little and put her hand in a pile of snow, " Alright then. When I get bored…..I bug you."  
  
She lifted her hand and threw snow in Ayeka's face. Knucks backed up a little and watched Ayeka react. She took the remaining snow off her face, and threw it at Ryoko's. This continued until the snow in their hands had melted. Knucks however, had taken this opportunity to start walking towards the wooden bridge. Ayeka quickly caught on and jogged after him. Ryoko launched one more snowball her way, but she accidentally hit Grandpa as he was walking by. Knucks knew that Ryoko was in trouble, and would probably be grounded by little Sasami. Knucks laughed out loud.  
  
  
  
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It was finally ready. Kagato now sat on his organ bench, looking out onto his creation. The machine itself wasn't much to look at, but if it got the job done, it would be his best invention yet. He had created a machine to control Ryoko, since his last battle with Tenchi some how cut his link and control over her. He didn't feel secure placing his fate in the hands of this machine, but he had made it for a reason, and that reason was entwined with his own. He would use this controller to take Ryoko's mind, and she would take the lives of her friends. Then, the power of the gods would be his to wield as he saw fit. A glorious day indeed-.  
  
' Not good enough.'  
  
The nagging voice returned. He would've gone insane because of it, but it helped him achieve greatness before. He tried to listen to it, but found the statements it made were a blow to his pride.   
  
' Get over it. You think they will fall right into your trap? They will subdue Ryoko and then come to do the same to you. One of the warriors must never set foot in this ship if you hope to survive.'  
  
Kagato thought about his failure to make a foolproof plan. He was losing his mind for this job. He needed to think of a way to keep either Knucks or Tenchi from fighting. Injury would be pointless, they would never stay behind willingly, and taking one as hostage had a bigger risk factor than fighting both head on. Just then, something slapped him on the brain, an idea. What if an event lead to one of them being banished from the Masaki household?  
  
This question stirred in his brain as he thought of whom to target and when. The bench he was sitting upon gave a loud scraping noise of metal on metal, and Kagato noticed the, now noiseless, room he was in. He turned towards the large organ built into the wall and prepared his fingers to play his thinking music. He always turned to his passion for music as a comforting shield from his troubles. He always seemed to find the answer when music filled his head. He began playing and thinking. The answers would come to him in due time, but he was wondering if they would come in time to save his life.  
  
-------------------------------------------------------  
  
Ayeka and Knucks walked along in the falling snow. Knucks had put them on the trail to town so he could still travel there while getting to know Ayeka. He looked over at her, and smiled at the sight of her clutching a blanket with three other layers of clothes on. He glanced at his own attire, his tank top and sweat pants, and shrugged off why she was cold, " Little cold princess?"  
  
Ayeka looked at him, and responded through chattering teeth, " Yes I am! Little crazy for wearing nothing more than a tank top?!"  
  
Knucks smiled at her and extended his hand to catch a snowflake. He let it melt before responding, " I only dress one way."  
  
" It's the crazy way. You're going to catch pneumonia!"  
  
He smiled as they walked further along the trail in silence. Knucks' mind drifted from Ayeka, to the beautiful, white, covering that surrounded them. He looked at the snow that covered the trees, and barely noticed his shoulders being covered with the same substance. Despite the weather, he felt a warmth inside when he thought of the fun he used to have in the snow when he was a child. Snowball fights with his friends, building snowmen with his sister, and even ice-skating on the lake by his hometown.   
  
Knucks shifted his attention back to Ayeka as she spoke, " It's a shame that we never got a chance to talk before today. For once, Ryoko was right. You're not as barbaric as I thought."  
  
Knucks grinned, " I bet you say that to all the guys," He saw her smile and continued, " What else has Ryoko said about me?"  
  
She looked at him, " Well, she told me that you were funny, and interesting, and a few things about your past."  
  
Knucks thought of the last time he and Ryoko had talk about his past. The On-sen scene flashed through his mind, as did the warm feeling-.  
  
Ayeka squealed suddenly and brought Knucks back to reality. Knucks saw a black blur go through Ayeka's mid-section, and felt a fist connect solidly with his cheek. He stumbled away and swung his head around to see who had delivered the blow. All he saw was Ayeka, slumping to the ground, a red blood spot beneath her growing. He quickly tied the blanket she had around the wound. Washu needed to see her, fast, but he took one more look around them to see if the attacker was still around. He knelt down again and heard something hit the ground to his left. He swiveled his head in that direction, only to see his new sword, covered in the red snow of Ayeka. He knew that he left his sword on his bed when he left the house, so, how did it get out here? He put his thoughts aside and swooped up the sword and shoved it in his tank top. He carefully lifted Ayeka and started back to the house. His questions would have to wait as he now began to run back to Washu.  
  
---------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
Ryoko sat on the couch and poured herself another saucer of sake, and drank it as fast as she poured it. She didn't like the idea of Ayeka getting to know Knucks. She was a sly one, and Ryoko hadn't completely gotten Knucks yet. She just wished that Ayeka didn't want to get competitive with him like they had with Tenchi.  
  
The screen door slid open suddenly, revealing Knucks holding Ayeka in his arms. Before she had time to ask any questions, he was opening Washu's door with his foot and bolting through it. She stood from the couch and quickly closed the screen door. She wondered what the hell that was about, but got a bad feeling when he saw a few drops of blood on the carpet. She phased her way into Washu's lab and prepared for the worst.  
  
---  
  
Knucks set Ayeka down on a gurney and backed up to allow Washu to work. He was a little out of breathe and covered in Ayeka's blood, but he needed to know if she was all right. Washu had everything from a stethoscope to something with drills and saws attached to it on a very large table she rolled next to the gurney Ayeka occupied. Washu unraveled the blanket and inspected the wound carefully. He passed her whatever she needed and asked her what she was doing. Washu asked him to carry Ayeka to a machine in the corner and lay her inside. He did so and noticed the machine looked like a very big oven. Washu closed the lid to the machine and started it up. He heard Ryoko land on the ground behind him and turned to acknowledge her.   
  
Washu now faced him, " What happened to her? This is a serious injury."  
  
" I know. I don't know what happened. We were walking and she shouted in pain, and someone punched me. Then," He pulled his sword out of his shirt, " my freakin sword appeared out of nowhere."  
  
Washu looked at his sword and took it form his hand. She noticed blood on the blade, " Where did this come from?"  
  
He looked a little closer at the sword and also noticed the blood again, " It probably came from the bloody snow it landed on."  
  
She set the weapon on the table and walked back over to her machine. Knucks had a question in his mind, " Why can't you just heal her like you did me?"  
  
" Because Ayeka isn't as strong as you are. If I used the same stuff on her, she would probably melt or disenigrate. See, you have to have a bit of power to protect you from my healing solution. Your power fights off some of the enzymes in the mixture, but it confuses some of them for white blood cells and allows my bacteria to attach to the wound and start healing. Ryoko, Tenchi, you and maybe Grandpa are the only ones I could use it on."  
  
" Just be glad that she didn't give you the scientific explanation." Ryoko walked up next to Knucks, " Did ya see anyone?"  
  
Knucks shook his head, " No, but I didn't have a lot of time to look. I did see something flash through her though, it was black, but it was only there for a flash."  
  
Washu suddenly stopped typing and turned around. She said nothing, but looked hard at her daughter. Ryoko nodded and grabbed Knucks' hand, and before he could protest, they were standing in the living room, " She says her lab is off limits again."  
  
" Does she do this a lot or is it just when I'm around?"  
  
Ryoko smiled and put her hand on his hip, " Just you I think."  
  
" I'm flattered. I'm gonna go take a shower and stuff."  
  
She teleported him to the balcony in the room, " Yeah, blood isn't the best thing to be covered in. I'll tell everybody what happened."  
  
Knucks kissed her cheek, " Alright. I'll be down when I'm done. He walked into his room to get a new shirt, and noticed his sword case lying empty on his bed. This brought on a wave of questions that needed answering. He decided to give them serious thought when he got out of the shower. He walked out of his room with a head full of questions and no answers to quell them.  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
Knucks wiped the steam off of the mirror and looked himself in the eye. He had no more blood on his skin, but he still thought about the scene from wince the blood came into play. He had replayed the image of Ayeka falling in his head, seemingly a million times, but he hadn't noticed anything new. He had boiled his thinking down to finding out what had gone through her. He tried to slow down the image of it happening, but he only saw a black blur go through her, nothing more.   
  
He leaned his head against the mirror and closed his eyes. He let his mind wander a bit, from his dreams of late, to the date he wasn't prepared for tonight. For some reason, he couldn't get the image of the monster in his dream out of his head. He studied the monster closer, and saw a red outline that encased a pitch-black sword.  
  
Knucks' eyes snapped open at the realization. He should've known from the beginning that Kagato was behind this. Every missing piece now fell into place at the thought of him. His sword appearing with blood covering it, walking in the house with blood covering him, and showing the bloody weapon to Washu. Kagato had read him like a book.  
  
He quickly dressed and took the stairs two at a time. The living room was void of people, but he could hear voices from the kitchen. He walked to the screen door and froze at the sound of his name. He backed against the wall and listened carefully to the conversation.   
  
" Why would he though? Why would he hurt Ayeka?" He heard Sasami's little voice, and noticed that her voice had a bit of sadness in it.  
  
" I don't know. I'm just saying that the evidence points to him. The sword, the cut, and the blood he was covered in." He got the point of the conversation, and it was just as he feared. Apparently, Washu had gotten the idea that he had tied to kill Ayeka.  
  
" You've gone off the deep end Washu! Why would he bring Ayeka back here to heal her if he wanted to kill her?" Ryoko was trying to defend him. He felt the urge to bust in there and kiss her, but he kept his cool.  
  
" I'm just showing evidence…I'm not accusing him. I'm just saying that we should watch him more closely from now on."  
  
Knucks had heard enough and opened the screen door. He walked in as if he had heard nothing at all, " What you guys talking about?"  
  
Tenchi walked over to him and asked, " What happened with Ayeka?"  
  
" We were walking on one of the trails, and she screamed in pain suddenly. I turned fast enough to see something black go through her, and to catch a fist to the face. I kneeled down and tied a blanket around her, to stop the bleeding. My sword appeared out of nowhere and landed in some bloody snow. I threw it in my shirt. I picked up Ayeka and ran back to the house."  
  
Tenchi held his eye contact with him. He was the first to drop his eye and turn to Washu. She stepped up and added, " Then how come the cut in her stomach is the same size as your sword?"  
  
Knucks was dumbfounded by this new information, " I…don't know."  
  
Ryoko now teleported behind Knucks, " Oh please! You guys really believe that he wounded Ayeka, saved her life, and had some type of reason for doing that? You guys are all crazy."  
  
Sasami turned towards the group with tears in her eyes. Knucks looked at her, and felt his heart shatter at the sight. She walked up to him and asked, " You didn't really try and hurt Ayeka did you? Please tell me you didn't."  
  
Knucks felt like crying himself when he heard the pain and sorrow filling the voice of this poor girl. He kneeled down, " Of course I didn't. I would never hurt your sister for any reason."  
  
Sasami smiled at him and put her head on his chest. Knucks looked over her head at everybody else in the room, trying to decide whether he was trusted any more or not. He looked very closely at Washu's eyes, and saw a lot of questions. It seems that answers were in short supply everywhere, " You guys can think whatever you want to think about me, but I didn't hurt Ayeka. In fact, I think it was Kagato. Who else would have a reason for doing this?"  
  
' Typical. Why would he blame Kagato right off the bat?' Washu thought to herself, but loud enough for Ryoko to hear it in her own head.  
  
' I cannot believe how crazy you have gotten in a few days! He's right, Kagato must be behind this. Use that big head of yours Washu!'  
  
Tenchi had enough of the silence outside of the two ladies head's, " The only thing we can do right now is go about our lives until Ayeka gets better. I think that Knucks is right, Kagato might've played a hand in this, so just be on your guard."  
  
Knucks nodded his head as everybody made their way to the living room. He turned around as he heard Sasami address him, " Will you help me wash the dishes?"  
  
He smiled, " Sure. Bring'em on."  
  
She smiled back at him and handed him a white robe. She started running the water as he tied the strings around his waist. Knucks got the soap from under the sink and squeezed it into the warm water. She walked over and opened the backdoor, " It's to hot in here. Do you mind?"  
  
" Not at all-." Knucks noticed the winds change suddenly outside, and didn't realize what had happened till it was too late. Sasami screamed for a short period and fell to her knees. Knucks grabbed a dirty butchers knife and threw it right above Sasami's head. A man groaned in pain and threw a sword back at him. He caught the sword and noticed the presence of someone was gone. He rushed to Sasami's side and turned her right side up. He recognized the same wound, in the same place, and probably by the same person as Ayeka.   
  
Tenchi and Washu came bursting through the kitchen door to the scene of him holding a bleeding little girl. They both rushed to aid her as Knucks felt the looming presence once more. He jogged through the backdoor, and just as quickly as the sickening feeling had come to him, it left without a trace.  
  
Washu instructed Tenchi to rush Sasami to her lab, but she didn't leave without giving Knucks the coldest look he had ever seen. Her laptop appeared and disappeared with Washu seconds later, leaving Knucks to think. He wondered what Kagato's motivation was for doing these heinous acts. They weren't intimidating him, they weren't going to make him lose control, and they certainly weren't gonna stop him from fighting him.   
  
Knucks walked towards the bathroom to wash another layer of blood off himself. He splashed cold water on his face, and heard a door slam downstairs. He dried his face and tried to listen through the door, with no success. He silently opened the screen and walked slowly towards the balcony. He listened to their quiet conversation, scooting as close to the edge of the wall as he could. Washu raised her voice suddenly, calling for him.  
  
Knucks pulled away from the wall and started the long walk down the stairs. Washu still looked at him as if he had actually hurt the girls. He didn't even think insanity would bring him to that, " What?"  
  
A laptop appeared in front of Washu and, with the tap of a key, all of his things appeared on the ground in front of him, " Two attacks, two hurt women, but only one suspect around, you." Tenchi now emerged from Washu's lab, " All evidence points to you, so we have to ask you to leave. You're lucky we don't have Mihoshi arrest you."  
  
Knucks stared at Washu with empty eyes, while questions resurfaced in his mind. He didn't want to leave for something he didn't do. He thought of defending himself, but he glanced around the room, and noticed that nobody was even looking in his direction. They were all turned away, actively trying to ignore him if he asked for help. Even Ryoko hovered above the wooden beams near the roof without so much as a glance.   
  
Knucks now knew that his welcome had officially worn out. He kneeled down and put his things over his shoulder. He hesitated when he saw his sword, but shoved it in his satchel non-than less. He started the walk to the door, and noticed that everyone now took an interest in him. All eyes were on him, wondering why he was leaving without a hitch if he was innocent.   
  
Knucks knew he needed to say something, but could only draw a blank. He decided to try and clear his name even if he wouldn't be around to enjoy it, " If you guys fight Kagato, ask him where the cut in his gut came from."  
  
He thought that they would forget all about his request, but he had to try to clear his name. Who knows, maybe one day their paths would cross again.   
  
-------------------------------------  
  
Kagato threw the filthy knife across the bridge of his ship in anger. He had been to hasty in hurting Sasami and had paid for it. He bled for only a few more seconds as his new healing elixir took hold of the wound. He glanced to his computer to see how his plan was working out, and smiled widely. His sensors now told him that Knucks had left the home. He switched to the camera assigned to Knucks and laughed loudly as it showed Knucks walking off with all of his possessions. Phase one of his new plan was done, but that was the easy part. He still had to get Ryoko in his machine's range, subdue at least a few of the intruders, and overcome Tenchi's power. He had another bottle of champagne waiting for him when he won.   
  
Kagato grew quiet and listened. He was both shocked and very happy at the absence of his inner voice. He had done things right this time, and not even that damn voice could interject. He not took a lazy seat in his chair and thought of victory again. He rubbed his hand near the wound he acquired from Knucks, and was surprised to find that it wasn't completely healed yet. He lifted his black shirt to find something he had never seen on himself before, a scar.  
  
Kagato was outraged by this. He never, ever, thought that a weakling like Knucks could scar him. He calmed himself with the thought that Knucks had to give him something to remember him by.   
  
Another idea crossed his mind that seemed like another good one. The first thing he would do with the new power that would bestow him was hunt down Knucks and send him to his family. Yes, the family reunion would commence after he took care of the other pests.   
  
A loud beeping sound awoke him from his daydream, and the screen showed Ryo-oki flying right towards him. They seemed very eager to kill him, and try they would. He tapped his finger next to the button that would end their little escapade now, but he moved his other hand to the hanger door controls and tap that one instead. It wouldn't be any fun to kill them now. He wanted fun and death in one package, and nothing was going to stop him.  
  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
Knucks threw his possessions to the side to face this thief. He had walked into town and almost been robbed by this guy. The obviously half drunk guy had challenged him to a duel, and he had accepted immediately. The guy now jogged unsteadily towards him and swung half a sword at his head. He caught the weak weapon with his sword and kicked him, softly, in the midsection. Apparently, he had kicked him harder than he thought. The thief slumped against the metal pole he had dented and looked unconscious.   
  
' Serves him right.' Knucks thought to himself as he scooped his things up and walked towards the bar. He didn't want to go back to drinking, but desperate times called for beer.   
  
His mind was still wrapped with questions, but now those questions were joined by images. All of his friends, turned away from him in accusation, but Ryoko was the only one that really left a mark on his heart. He hadn't expected Tenchi and Ryoko to turn their backs on him so easily. Those were the two that knew him well, but not well enough, it seemed.   
  
He was practically alone on the mid-night streets of Okiyama. The moon was nowhere to be seen, hiding behind its blanket of clouds to pop out and surprise you with its crescent shape when the time was right. The very cool night air turned his breath to steam, yet he still didn't mind the cold. He guessed it at ten degrees outside, and was proved wrong by a thermometer on the front door of his destination. It was in fact twenty degrees, and of course, when he needed to drink the most, the bar was closed. He looked into the windows and saw a sign next to his head that said, " Closed for health reasons."  
  
The irony of this world was astonishing. He took a seat on a bench in front of the empty bar and thought of what to do next. His life was at a dead end, and he was clueless on what to do about it. He could leave the planet and start another life somewhere else. Knucks knew that was the last thing he wanted to do, and the first was go back to his friends. He actually wasn't to sure if they considered him a friend anymore or not-.  
  
Knucks looked towards the oncoming footsteps, and saw Ryoko wearing a neutral expression walking right towards him. His heart gave a jump when he saw her, but he kept his face straight. She smiled at him as she moved his stuff to the ground so she could sit next to him. She looked around before addressing him, " Is this where we were gonna go for our date?"  
  
Knucks smiled, " Something like that. I was gonna feed ya first though."  
  
Ryoko now looked at him, " Listen, I don't know if you did hurt them or not, but we're going to fight Kagato soon, and I want you to stick around," she moved closer to him on the bench and put her hand on his leg, " I want you to tell me the truth, did you hurt them?"  
  
Knucks turned his eyes to hers. She maintained her neutral expression as he looked over her beautiful face. His eyes wandered to her hand on his leg, and he brought it up to his chest, " You feel that? That's a heart, and anyone with one would never hurt two of their own friends. I never hurt them, and never will."  
  
Ryoko closed her eyes and sighed slowly. She opened them again and found herself believing him. She heard her mother call for her inside her head and knew that she didn't have a lot of time to talk to him, " I believe you. Please stay around. I'll find a way to convince them that you're innocent."  
  
Knucks was touched by her concern, " Thanks, but all you have to do is ask Kagato the question. That will reveal him."  
  
She quickly remembered the question he was talking about, " You sure?"  
  
" Trust me, it's enough."  
  
She now took his hand, " I better go before I'm missed. We're gonna attack him tonight. Wish us luck. Stick around and you might be able to come back to the house, and me."  
  
Knucks had never heard a more enticing offer, " You got it. Just be careful around Kagato okay?"  
  
" You got it."  
  
They locked eyes and decided that a good-bye kiss was in order. They leaned in and sent electricity down each others spines with their lips connecting like conductors. Washu yelled at Ryoko through their connection again and forced Ryoko to break their lip lock.  
  
" Washu is annoying. See ya later I guess."  
  
Knucks just now opened his eyes from their kiss, " Can't wait."  
  
She smiled at him and teleported back to the house, leaving Knucks, once again, alone on the street. He got up from the bench and gathered his items for another walk. He walked along the road for a few steps when he felt a strong gust of wind. He looked up in time to see Ryo-oki fly through the clouds to face Kagato. He suddenly got a bad feeling and knew they would need help. He needed to get up there, but didn't have time to go through the planetary checkpoint. He couldn't think of what to do.  
  
A bright light rained upon him from the clouds, and restricted him form moving. He was trapped in this blinding light, wondering if he was going to die. The area around him was all white light now. He was standing in the middle of a very white, and blindingly bright, desert of emptiness. He looked around for some kind of land mark or something, and saw an outline of something. He ran towards it, but felt himself grow heavy, very heavy. He couldn't move under his weights and the new pressure. The light itself seemed to cause this pressure, and seemed to invade his body. The light over took him and removed him from consciousness. 


	8. Benevelance of the Brave

A finger touched his forehead, and Knucks' head snapped up and eyes opened. He flexed his arms and legs to make sure they were still there, but felt no ground. He then became aware of his surroundings, light. He was hovering in the air, or the light, only able to move his limbs and head while his body seemed completely anchored in place. All he could see was light, but he felt a presence directly in front of him. The light dimmed slightly, seemingly in the same moment that he realized the presence, just enough for him to see a ground and roof to the monstrous room. A mysterious force lowered him to the ground and allowed him to look around. He couldn't see much through the light, and nothing more than the person controlling the light wanted him to. He turned towards the front again, and saw that the presence now had a beautiful face to go with it. A tall, serious looking woman, with deep blue eyes and the same color of hair, now stood in front of him. She had an enormous amount of power, but she looked very gentle, and had a striking resemblance to Sasami, " Who are you?"  
  
The mystery woman took another step forward, " I am someone who wants to help your cause. My name is Tsunami, and welcome to my ship."  
  
The lights dimmed further, and Knucks saw the extraordinary chamber in its entirety. The roof he thought he had seen before was now just a shadow hidden by more shadow. He stepped forward, and felt the ground drop away. He quickly pulled his foot back up, and felt cold water on his lower leg. He looked at the place where the ground was non-existent, only to see a small, rushing river that connected to many others. He studied the ground in the room and saw many little rivers flowing past tiny islands of glass platforms. It was as if a giant had broken his giant mirror and threw all the pieces into a raging river. He followed the rivers up to their source, a very large tree with bright white leaves. He guessed this tree as the source of light in the ship, " Nice ship."  
  
" Thank you."  
  
Knucks locked eyes with the elegant woman, " Why did you bring me here?"   
  
" Straight to the point, not like you at all. You usually use humor to calm yourself down, but now you want nothing but answers."  
  
Knucks was a bit taken back by her knowledge of his personality, " I'm in a bit of a rush today. How did you-"?  
  
" You can't hide everything from everybody. I know a lot about you Knucks, or should I say, Charles?"  
  
Knucks blushed immediately at the sound of the name he was born with, " Don't ever call me that again! I haven't been called that since I was born!" He wondered how she had managed to learn of his old name. She obviously knew more about him, but he didn't have time to hear his own life story again, " You've done your research obviously."  
  
Tsunami smiled, " I told you that nothing is hidden forever." She straightened her expression and teleported herself next to the large tree. She extended her hand towards one of the small rivers and scooped up a handful of water, " This water is the life of my ship. It flows through the sacred tree, and through the rest of my ship by way of these rivers. This flow resembles that of which you have inside of your own body. The blood, the heart, and me, the brain."  
  
Knucks hopped from glass panel to glass panel towards the tree of light. He had no idea why Tsunami was telling him this, but she seemed like a woman who always had a purpose. He reached her position and waited for her to say something else.   
  
" Do you believe in destiny?"  
  
She looked at him gently, but questionably, waiting for his answer, " No, I like believing that I make my own decisions in life."  
  
" A good reason for the wrong answer." Tsunami threw the handful of water at Knucks. He attempted to cover his head in defense. The water splashed on his arms, and, simultaneously, the tree brightened, throwing light in every direction.   
  
" Free will is what we all want, but its only purpose is to make you feel in control. Your actual fate was decided the moment you were born. Every decision you make, and every path you take was written in the heavens long before you ever make it"  
  
Knucks tried to find her through squinted eyes in the blinding light, but suddenly, the scenery changed. He was standing on a high cliff, above Tenchi's house. A bright warm sun and beautiful autumn scenery filled his senses, and almost overwhelmed him. He turned and saw Tsunami walking up to stand next to him, " Why are we back down here? We should be up helping them."  
  
" They haven't even reached Kagato's ship yet, and I'm trying to help you. Look." Her finger now pointed at something plummeting towards the Earth. It crashed on the surface, and made the loudest boom Knucks had ever heard. She grabbed his arm and teleported them to the crash site. A smoldering Ryo-oki lay next to an unconscious Ryoko.   
  
Knucks was being held back by Tsunami, " This is how Ryoko came to this planet, by falling out of the sky. She was the start of a chain reaction of ladies falling from the sky, all on Tenchi's doorstep, and all coming to claim Ryoko for their own."  
  
She flicked her hand and sent a ripple through the scenery, and sending them back to the bridge of Tsunami's ship. Knucks held his eyes closed, trying to keep them from the light. The light dimmed again, and Knucks thought he got the point of this conversation, " So, what you're saying is that I came to claim her as well?"  
  
" For different reasons than any other. Ayeka and Mihoshi both came to capture her, Washu was released to help her daughter, and do you know why you chose this planet to start your journey? You came here to meet your destiny in Ryoko and her other friends. You are going to become very close to Ryoko's heart, but the others will care for you as well."  
  
Knucks understood most of her speech now. His destiny was somehow entwined with Ryoko, Tenchi and his family. But, she had said nothing of Sasami yet, " What does Sasami have anything to do with this then?"  
  
She smiled at his ignorance, " You haven't noticed our resemblance yet? She is my carrier. I harbor myself in her body until I am needed. This makes her destiny her own. She is one of the few that actually have free will." She smiled wider at his confused expression, " You aren't as bright as I originally thought."  
  
Knucks snapped out of his confused state with that remark, " I act smart from time to time." He smiled for a few more seconds until he realized the urgency in his mind, " This is very interesting information and all, but I need to be there to help them fight that maniac."  
  
Tsunami looked him in the eye and spoke with the most serious of tones, " You are unprepared for what Kagato can unleash. You will be watching the battle from here. You have a great deal of potential, but are very unprepared for his might."  
  
Another serious blow to his pride, but he wouldn't give up that easy, " I'm not going to sit here and watch them suffer. Just put me on the first ship that comes by here and I'll get to his ship."  
  
Tsunami felt his anger and anxiety rising, " If you are to go, then go when you are ready. Kagato won't kill them until he has Ryoko's power. By then, you might be ready for him, but until then," She waved her arm towards the largest river in the room, " look into the water and see what fate has in store for your friends."  
  
Knucks couldn't believe that he could do nothing to stop Kagato until he was "ready." He knew that he wouldn't be doing anything unless she wanted him to, so he looked into the river and saw an image of Ryo-oki floating in space.  
  
  
  
-----------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
Ryoko pulled Ryo-oki to a dead halt in the middle of space. She wasn't focused on the stars near her helm, but on the terrible feeling she had in her gut. She would never admit it to anyone, but she was frightened. She had been trying to relate the feeling to something, but she couldn't escape the fact that Kagato scared the crap out of her. She found herself wishing that Knucks was there, but not just for increasing their chances of winning. She felt the strong urge to be held by someone, or she worried that her fear wouldn't go away, and Knucks was the person she wanted for the job.   
  
Ryoko now thought of their chances against the psycho. She had great faith in Tenchi, but with him losing to Knucks yesterday, she wasn't so sure he would win any more. She was trying to keep the possibility of Kagato not fighting fair out of her head, but she knew him better than that. She glanced over and saw Tenchi talking with Washu about something, and that momentary glance at him gave her a worse feeling than before.   
  
Ryoko teleported over to her only two companions on this trip. Her mother walked away to try and get a decent lock on Kagato's ship now that they were in deep space. Tenchi looked at Ryoko, and noticed that her eyes had a more fierce and battle ready look to them than ever before, " You look ready to kill."  
  
Ryoko looked at Tenchi with a blank expression and told him in a flat voice, " We all have our reasons to get back at this guy. Some more than others." She turned away from the surprised Tenchi and walked over to Washu. She glanced at her mother's laptop, but was instantly confused by all of the numbers and formulas that filled the screen.   
  
Washu felt her daughter's presence and mentally asked, 'What's wrong with you now? I've felt you becoming angrier by the second.'  
  
Ryoko closed her mind off so her mother couldn't read it, but still answered her, ' I just have a little more motivation in this fight against him.'  
  
Washu stopped typing for a beat or two but continued after that, 'You really believe he was innocent don't you.'  
  
Ryoko snapped back, ' Yes, and nothing you can say will change my mind. He told me himself that he would never harm them, and the look in his eyes told me the same thing.'   
  
Washu didn't know how to answer that right away and felt a tremor run down her spine. She hated being unprepared for things, even something as little as what to say next. She figured that her daughter was on the edge right now, and pressing the issue wouldn't be a smart move, ' We'll discuss this again later.'   
  
' Whatever.'  
  
Ryo-oki jerked to life as Washu directed her towards Saturn's rings. Ryoko stared at the rocky rings, and saw a very familiar ship. She couldn't believe that Kagato had been able to salvage the Soja after Tenchi blew it up. It looked the same as before, except now he had new paintings on both sides, and not to mention the ten or so new guns that now surrounded his huge space-pulsar rifle.   
  
Ryoko transported to Ryo-oki's controls to prepare for Kagato's attack. Her hands were hovering over the attack controls, waiting for him to make his move, but he didn't fire. They were well within range and out in the open, yet he didn't fire. She wasn't about to let her guard down, especially when dealing with a snake as Kagato.  
  
" He won't fire on us." Ryoko turned to Washu and wondered how long her mother had been crazy, " He wants to take us head on, not kill us in space."   
  
" Believe what you want, but I'm not letting my guard down for a second!"  
  
Washu paid no attention to Ryoko's outburst, but noticed a hatch door opening of one side of Kagato's ship, " See, he's inviting us inside." She pointed to the half way open door.   
  
" Well, then lets not disappoint."  
  
Ryoko flew Ryo-oki into the landing bay, and was surprised that he actually let them into his ship. They stepped off the ship and took in the blank walls and glass floor. Ryoko phased to the top of a low rise that lead to a long hallway, " We can't stay here. Let's get going, but keep your guard up."  
  
Tenchi and Washu ran up a few steps and then after Ryoko towards Kagato.   
  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
Kagato knew that time was now short if he wanted his timing to be perfect. He arose from his terminal and grabbed a small screen. It reminded him of a small television screen, but served an infinitely more useful purpose. He turned the small dial on the back of the screen, and was soon viewing the same feed as his main terminal.   
  
He kept the screen in hand as he teleported to his Organ room, and his little machine. He arrived facing the large organ, standing on the plush, blood red carpet, with the intentions of sealing his enemies fate. Kagato glanced at the screen, and found that they were now just mere footsteps away from his position. He quickly flipped the primary switches, and sighed as the machine thrummed to life. The doors gave a tremble as Ryoko was pounding on them for all she was worth.   
  
Kagato snatched the remote control for the machine and mentally opened the doors. He looked on as Ryoko, Tenchi, and Washu stepped into his domain, " Ahh. Welcome to my lair Space Pirate Ryoko, Scientist Washu, and Prince Tenchi." He looked into each pair of eyes that now glared at him, " You seem a bit shorthanded this time around. What happened to the rest of your merry crew?"  
  
Ryoko was a second away from rushing at him, but his last sentence reminded her of the question. She had to ask this seemingly pointless question for Knucks. She looked at his gut, and did notice blood there. This brought a little smile to her face, " Where did you get that injury?"  
  
Kagato was stunned at this question. He tried to keep a straight face, but chuckled as he decided that it made no sense for him to lie, " This came from your little outcast Knucks. He got me when I hurt the little brat Sasami. He could protect neither Sasami or Ayeka from my power though, but you blamed it on him and cast him from your home."  
  
Tenchi gripped his sword as hard as he could and tried his hardest to restrain himself from rushing Kagato. Washu felt guilt wash over her as she realized she had been the one to cast him out. She shook her head and rid herself of that thought for the time being.  
  
Ryoko felt relieved, as if a little part of her sub-conscious had doubted Knucks' innocence. She felt a sudden gust of wind at her back as Tenchi was tired of talking, " You'll pay for that Kagato!"  
  
" Then let's begin boy!"  
  
Ryoko summoned her sword, but heard a very high-pitched noise in her head. It hurt her very much, and she let everyone in the universe know about it. She couldn't even hear herself scream over the high-pitched squealing. She felt her limbs go weak, and could do nothing to raise them.  
  
Tenchi looked on in horror as Ryoko held her head, and was screaming to no ends. She suddenly stopped screaming, and turned to Tenchi with her eyes closed, " Ryoko, are you alright?"  
  
Her eyes snapped open at the sound of her name. Ryoko stared at Tenchi, but her eyes had turned a deep black that seemed to reflect the emptiness in her soul, and made Tenchi feel very lonely in this fight. He summoned more of his power and tried to think of a way to take her out of the equation without hurting her. He couldn't think of any solutions, but he then saw the machine in the room. He had let his hatred for Kagato blind him from the rest of the room, but he guessed that Kagato was using that device to control Ryoko and saw the solution.  
  
He saw Washu run past his shoulder and fly straight at Kagato, trying to subdue him, but she was knocked away. He mentally cursed Kagato for taking his allies from him. The dread in his gut grew as he saw Ryoko's sword light from her hand, and saw an unmoving Washu.   
  
Tenchi knew what he had to do to get Ryoko back, and sat back to wait for his opening. Ryoko phased, and Tenchi shot forward at the black machine. He drew back his arm and thrust it forward, but he was stopped short of his goal. He saw Kagato blocking his blow, and felt a sharp pain as his body was forced to the ground, " You didn't think it would be that easy did you?"  
  
Tenchi clenched his teeth to quell the pain in his left shoulder. Ryoko was sitting on his back with her sword impaled into the throbbing part of his shoulder. Ryoko withdrew the sword, and was preparing to finish Tenchi off. Tenchi looked over to Washu, seeing her as motionless as before, he knew he had to save his own life.   
  
Tenchi felt his energy surging, just as the last time he had defeated Kagato. His power threw Ryoko from his back and healed his wound. He summoned his sword and stared down Kagato. Kagato had been having nightmares that exclusively featured Tenchi in this form. He stared at him with hatred, and summoned his own sword and battle power.   
  
The two superpowers stared each other down, but their blades never met. Tenchi cringed and dropped his sword as he saw the red blade that was now stuck in his upper chest. Ryoko removed her sword from Tenchi and watched him fall face first to the ground.   
  
The moment of hatred was suppressed by a longer moment of surprise as Ryoko stood where Tenchi had just seconds before. Kagato couldn't believe Tenchi hadn't felt Ryoko coming up on him, but he would take any victory he could. He saw Tenchi's hand grasp into a fist, and knew that his honor wouldn't be restored until he had killed him, " Well now, it seems that things have come full circle Tenchi. Your own ignorance handicapped you, and then destroyed you. You will receive a warrior's death. Good-bye Prince!"  
  
Kagato raised his sword, but froze when he heard the sound of his alarms going off. He removed the viewing screen from his robs and saw the impossible. Knucks had entered his ship, and was well on his way to this location.   
  
Kagato had never been caught without a solution, 'Damn! He's persistent, but I still have my power intact. He will fall right next to Tenchi!'  
  
Kagato instructed Ryoko to hide in the corner, and wait for their final prey. Kagato was mere minutes from his dreams coming true, but he had a bad feeling about the approaching combatant. He thought he felt the wound on his stomach throb with pain, but he hoped it was just his imagination.  
  
-------------------------------------  
  
The last vision of his friends was that of Wahsu being thrown from Kagato's sight before the image in the water flowed down the river. Knucks stood and felt desperate in the current situation. Tenchi was on his own, but Ryoko wasn't quite as helpless as Washu at the moment. His mind raced with hatred, fear, helplessness and hope. Hope was a surprising one considering the situation, but Tenchi wasn't a joke, but neither was Kagato, " You've gotta let me help them. I'm willing to do this your way, but it better be the quick way."   
  
Tsunami opened her eyes and looked at Knucks, noticing that his emotions were running wild within his mind. She knew that he would do anything to help his friends before they were finished off. His caring for his friends astounded her, and that he was a drunken mess when she had told him herself about the "sword master" in the mountains. She smiled widely at the realization that he didn't even recognize her from that night she had met him. He must've been extra drunk that night, " Alright then, let us get started."  
  
Knucks' mood lightened slightly at her cooperation. Tsunami raised her hand and sent a light beam into the tree. The beam hit one of the branches, and the room lit up instantly, blinding him yet again. He heard Tsunami's voice pierce the bright light, " Draw your weapon and try and attack me."  
  
Knucks pulled his sword and tried to sense where she was. His senses felt a thousand powers like hers, but all of them seemed to be floating. They all varied in intensities, and each making it harder to find Tsunami. He calmed his mind and noticed an absence of feeling at one point in the room. He sprung forward and swung his sword, and was surprised that he made contact with something. The lights dimmed again, and revealed a beautiful sight. All the different powers he had felt were little fluff seeds. Hundreds were floating around the giant tree, just like on Earth, except the fluff was all light. He wasn't really surprised by this since he noticed that this ship had an abundance of light in it.   
  
He was pushed back by Tsunami's power, " You surprised me with your skill, but have disappointed me with your lack of focus. You were so busy staring at my pods that I could've killed you."   
  
" I was paying attention."  
  
Tsunami highly doubted that, but got to the point of the conversation, " Then, I guess you noticed that your sword felt a little lighter than usual." She held up about half of his sword, and made him feel about two feet tall, " A warriors weapon is only as strong as the wielder's will. Can you tell me what that saying means?"  
  
Knucks was in complete shock when she held up the good half of his sword. Her question caught him in the middle of his shock, and didn't receive an answer right away. He refocused and forced out an answer, " It means….that if you have enough determination, you can do anything."  
  
Tsunami laughed, " Not even close. You've over thought the saying. It has no hidden purpose, or false meaning, but it simply gives you directions." Knucks was especially confused now, " Your sword allows you to put your life force into the blade, making it indestructible. Only after your life force, heart, and will to win are put into it will you have a true weapon. Try and pull your weapon back together with you heart."  
  
Knucks lifted the handle of his broken sword and tightened his grip on it. Tsunami nodded at him and he cleared his mind. He felt both halves of the sword, and indeed felt a strong force between them. He poured his energy into his sword, and felt something hit the sword with tremendous force. He opened his eyes and saw the sword back to its entirety. He smiled and saw a slight blue tint to his sword that he had never seen before. He guessed that his power now enriched his sword, but the sword felt empty and incomplete still.   
  
He looked up at Tsunami, but she spoke before he could, " You've done well, but now you must learn to complete your weapon. It will be harder for you since you don't have inner peace, but there is a way. You must make your own peace."  
  
The familiar confusion crept back into Knucks' mind, " How? How do I create peace?"  
  
Tsunami didn't seem to be listening to him at all. She quickly turned her head towards the tree and stared hard at it. She then turned her head slowly back to Knucks, " You must leave to help your friends now. We no longer have a choice, but remember what you have learned. Your peace will come," Tsunami raised her hand and placed it on the tree's trunk, " Go, save your friends, and Ryoko."   
  
Knucks was ready to leave, " Alright, I will, but Ryoko's a friend too."  
  
Tsunami smiled again and marveled at his ignorant nature, " I think you consider each other at a higher level than a friend."  
  
Knucks blushed, and once again felt himself go blind by the light. He felt air lift him and thrust him forward swiftly. He waited for the wind gust to settle him to his destination.  
  
---  
  
Knucks opened his eyes after feeling the air finally settling him to a solid piece of ground. He looked around the large hanger, and realized that he had seen the same one in the river. He was standing where Tenchi and the others had been just a few minutes before. His concentration wavered and he thought of the pain Kagato had caused his friends, and felt the very strong urge to rip the very ship he stood on apart. He got his emotions back under control and used his hate to force himself forward.  
  
Knucks climbed the small stepladder and raced down the hallway. His mind seemed to race faster than his legs, both rushing to solutions for problems they didn't totally comprehend.   
  
Suddenly, the hallway went completely dark and Knucks stopped dead in his tracks. He noticed a little glow of light coming through the glass floor, but was more focused on the glaring eyes that appeared in the darkness. Two pairs of sharp, red eyes now moved closer to him with a sound of metal on glass. Knucks drew his sword and cleared his mind, but was surprised to find the two pairs of eyes now splitting into four single eyes. Two of the eyes came rushing at him suddenly and demanded his attention. He stood straight up and tried to feel his enemy's movements. Two swishes filled the dark hall, one of the metal menaces' swords, and the other of Knucks slicing through them with his.   
  
The metal being fell to a heap on the floor, and Knucks felt another one of the drones trying to kill him. A sword went through a smoky image of him, and the android joined his friend on the ground. The hallway suddenly lit up and temporarily blinded Knucks. The robots took advantage and flew at him, trying to kill a blind man, but he had enough awareness to block their shots. They followed up quickly, but Knucks ducked and they struck each other's swords. He raised his sword and sliced through where their waists would've been if they had been human. The metal from their top halves fell before the legs, and he remembered the same androids from when they had attacked them on Earth.  
  
Two confusing ends met and accused Kagato of sending those bots to kill them before. Knucks collected himself and began running down the hallway again. To him, it didn't matter if he had sent the Easter bunny to kill them, he was still going to defeat Kagato and save his friends.  
  
Knucks stopped running when he came to a large door, and felt that he had reached his destination. The dark brown doors were the only thing that stood between him and a man he had grown to hate. He noticed that the dents Ryoko had put in the door when trying to open it were still present. He didn't know why, but he smiled when he thought of her having trouble with a little wooden door.  
  
' Old girl is losing her touch I guess. I'll have to get her a few five pound weights to work out with.' Knucks thought this to himself and smiled again at the image of Ryoko having problems lifting five pounds.  
  
Knucks shook away the funny images and opened the door without fear. He surveyed the room with all of his senses, except for the two cold eyes he kept locked with Kagato's. They both stared holes through each other, trying to see which would break under the pressure first. He felt that Tenchi had lost a lot of power and felt Washu still in the same place as before. Ryoko on the other hand seemed to be hiding from him, but she soon revealed herself.  
  
" I must say that you being here is quite unexpected, but not preventable. I believe you know Ryoko, but I am willing to bet that you don't know of her very violent nature. Allow her to demonstrate it for you."  
  
Kagato waved his hand and sent Ryoko into motion. She flew swiftly and raised her sword to strike Knucks' head. He blocked, but he couldn't bring himself to follow up with his own attack. His hesitation gave her the opportune moment to knock him away, but she to seemed to hesitate as well. They stood with their swords entwined, waiting for one another to make a move.   
  
Knucks heard a very faint, high-pitched sound, and immediately remembered the machine in the middle of the room. He knew this was what he should be fighting, but Kagato was ever watchful of his little toy. He turned his body so that his back was to the thrumming machine.   
  
Ryoko saw his eyes shift from her and started to gather energy. She gathered enough to blow a hole in the ship and fired it a Knucks' head. He sped out of the way and the energy met with the metal hull of the machine. The huge controlling machine was destroyed instantly, leaving only a large black spot on the, once lovely, red rug.  
  
Ryoko's dark, fierce eyes relaxed as she fell to the ground. Knucks ran to her and turned her right side up, " Ryoko! Are you alright?"  
  
Ryoko opened her eyes slowly, but closed them as they stung with light. She felt drained and ready to go to sleep, but she heard Knucks' voice and the worry that accompanied it, " I'm alright," she mumbled.   
  
She brought her hand up to try and shield her eyes, but found herself struggling greatly to lift her arm. She re-opened her eyes and saw Knucks lifting her arm and putting it across her stomach, " What happened?"  
  
Knucks looked at her and felt happy just seeing her alive again, but the ominous presence of Kagato needed to be addressed before he could be truly happy again, " Long story. Remind me to tell it to ya later, but now you just sit here and rest. I'm gonna go get a little revenge."  
  
Ryoko felt her stomach flip-flop under her hand and thought this was the last time she would ever see him. She mustered up some strength and wrapped her arms around him, " Please come back alive."  
  
Knucks embraced Ryoko's warmth. He reluctantly let go of her and picked up his sword, " I will."  
  
Kagato watched with his teeth grinding as Ryoko lay in Knucks' arms after destroying his beautiful machine. He would now have to gather her energy himself, a minor setback but still very unwelcome. He felt his anger welling up and knew that Knucks would be the recipient of his rage-fueled power, " How touching. Can we get this over with now? I have a galaxy to take over."  
  
Knucks heard Kagato's sarcastic tone and stood to meet him. He removed his tank top and dropped it to the floor with a thud. Kagato summoned his sword and full battle power to down him quickly. Knucks now let all of his power show. His muscles grew slightly, his eyes glowed a dark blue and a slight white glow formed around him.   
  
Kagato was very surprised by the power boost Knucks had just gathered and was slightly worried. He knew that he had to finish this conflict swiftly, before Knucks surprised him one to many times.  
  
Kagato flew at Knucks as fast as he could and engaged him. They switched from offensive to defensive positions as they tried to land a hit on each other. Knucks ducked under one of Kagato's swings and sent him flying with a kick to the chin. Kagato landed on his feet and sprung forward again, but had more success this time with a slice across Knucks' chest.   
  
They both stood a short distance apart, gathering themselves for the next volley of attacks. Kagato felt Knucks' power ever radiant, but he had an idea that might secure his victory, " Tell me, what's it like hunting an invisible enemy? You have been hunting for a maniac, but in reality, you were hunting me all this time. Your family fell to this very sword, all foolishly trying to avenge those who had fallen before them."   
  
Knucks' eyes widen and heart stopped as Kagato said the worst thing he had ever heard. Swirling images of his sister and mother filled his head. Every memory he had of family picnics, playground games, or fancy dinner parties came to surface as he had finally met their assailant.   
  
Hatred the likes of which he had never felt before began to run through Knucks' body, blinding his senses and sending him forward in an attack of rage. He screamed in fury and swung his sword without care or purpose. All he wanted to do was re-pay Kagato for his evil deeds. The smile Kagato wore made him ever more angry, but no matter how much he hated him, he couldn't land a hit on the maniac.   
  
Kagato continued to taunt him, " Out of all three of them, your sister was the most pitiful. She actually offered herself to me in exchange for her life."  
  
Knucks stepped back and gathered his aurora into a ball of energy and threw it at Kagato. The bright white ball of energy rushed towards Kagato, but the lack of strategy made it easy for him to deflect it back at Knucks. The energy came back at him faster than his hate filled eyes could see, but his arm instinctively came up to block the blast.   
  
A light filled the room on contact and blinded all of the occupants. It dimmed after a few seconds to show Knucks holding half of his sword in his hand and a very large hole where a wall used to be. If Knucks had put his entire power into that, they wouldn't be alive right now.   
  
The feelings that ran through Knucks bordered on hopelessness, fatigue, and even un-willingness to live any longer, but he stood up and regained his composure. His power was drained and his sword and will were broken. He felt that he was fighting a hopeless battle, but just then, the room's vibrant rugs and white walls turned black. A light shown down on him from above, and had an eerie resemblance to his dream. The surrounding area lit up with a bright blue sky and a crystal clear lake. Trees started to fill in the missing spaces on the horizon, as did birds fill the vacant blue sky. Green grass and brown leaves covered the ground while cherry blossoms flew through the air and landed on his shoulder. The total image was the breathtaking sights of fall, the most beautiful traits of the Autumn season were right in front of him, and he felt his body relax at the sight.   
  
While Kagato continued to look around like a lost child, Knucks heard Tsunami's voice in his head, " You doubt your own abilities this late in the game? You have every reason to keep fighting, but it has to do with you keeping your temper while fighting him. He knew he had to do something to get you off your game, so he brought out the ugly truth about your family. Remember to keep your cool and to use your power to your advantage. You've created this place out of your own mind, your peace, I just sculpted it to you mental image. Now you can unlock your potential, and only now can you save your friends."  
  
The surrounding area turned back to that of burnt rugs and holey walls. Everybody in the room was back to normal, except the cherry blossom still remained on Knucks' shoulder. He clenched his sword handle and poured his power into his sword. The familiar thunk sounded as the blade became whole again, as did his determination. He was now under control of his emotions, and looking to his left gave him a reason to keep fighting, Ryoko. At the thought of one of their kissing moments, a shiver ran down his spine and he felt more power in his system than ever before.   
  
The rush of strength sent goose bumps up his arms and gave Kagato the window to attack. He flew at Knucks shouting, "Die!"  
  
Knucks was still marveling at his power when Kagato swung his sword, but was stopped by Knucks' unmanned sword. The weapon had moved on its own to block the shot, and caught both combatants by surprise. Kagato continued to hack away at different locations around Knucks, but couldn't get past the swords guard. Knucks was watching in awe, until he remembered what Tsunami had said before about putting his will and life force into his sword. He now understood all of her riddles; when he put his life into his sword, he became one with his sword. He was now able to use it as an extension of his own being.   
  
Knucks raised his hand to test his theory, and the handle of his sword was instantly in his hand. He had found his peace and become complete, just like Tsunami with her ship, or even Kagato with his own sword. He smiled at Kagato and flew at him quicker than he had ever before. He pulled his sword back, and saw Kagato do the same. They thrust forward at the same time, that exact moment stretched into a lifetime for everyone watching.   
  
They both landed on their feet, but Kagato had something in his stomach he didn't have before, a sword. Kagato feel to one knee and addressed Knucks, " Bravo. Give Tsunami my regards when you see her again."  
  
Knucks turned around in time to see Kagato fall flat on the ground and clouds of smoke come from under his cape. He smiled a wide smile, but also felt a little different than when he had before. The sword in his gut disappeared as the smoke did, but blood flowed from the wound and caused his body to fall, weakly, to the ground.  
  
Knucks heard different shouts and slurred talking from his friends. He saw Tenchi and Washu up and trying to care for him, but he was happy now. He felt at peace, as if his peace was a part of his life now. He felt as if he could die peacefully, but he heard Ryoko's voice and knew that this was not the end for him. His last thought was a mental picture of his mom and sister, but the picture looked torn in his mind and a mental image of Ryoko was added to the torn spot. The picture remained with him until his mind went dark. 


	9. Rejuvenation of the Brave

Tenchi's eyes opened as tried to remember where he was. His power was slowly repairing his wounds, and numbed the damaged area. He felt a slight gust of wind on his head and looked up to see a piece of cloth settle over a pile of dust and another object fall to the ground with a clang. He was very lightheaded so he didn't give it much thought. Another shadowy object fell, but this one sounded like a body falling on the ground and persuaded his head to lift from the ground. He couldn't see a thing from his position so he took a deep breath and quickly sat up. His eyes gazed at the cape that now lay in front of him, and he recognized the cloth as Kagato's. It looked like Kagato had been defeated, but by whom, he wondered.  
  
Tenchi attempted to stand on his own by leaning on his sword, but blood still ran from his wound and made him weak. He stared at the flat cape that had been Kagato's, but now just lay atop a mound of dusty bones. He felt the world lift off his shoulders as Kagato's defeat settled into his head. He had been half unconscious every since Ryoko stabbed him, and had no idea who had done this to Kagato. He turned slowly and saw Washu staggering to her feet and turned his head to see Ryoko almost crawling to an unmoving body.  
  
Tenchi's eyes widened at the sight of someone who couldn't have been there. He walked forward dizzily and had to stop after just a few steps. He couldn't believe that Knucks had even gotten to Kagato's ship, but he was really there and seemingly had defeated him. His curiosity wasn't as strong as his concern for his friend and both fueled him forward.   
  
He finally fell to a knee to examine Knucks'. He looked over to check on Washu's progress and saw she was doing better than him at the moment. He noticed the huge hole in front of them where the wall used to be, and thought he saw a crack in one of the glass floors. They didn't have much time before the glass gave way; they needed to know whether or not to bring Knucks.   
  
Ryoko had turned him over to reveal a gash, right where his heart was. Tenchi felt guilt and anguish wash over him at this sight, but it paled in comparison by the looks on both Ryoko and Washu's face. Washu looked as if she had just seen a dead relative, and Ryoko had an expression that resembled the epitome of pain and suffering.   
  
Tenchi stared at Knucks' still face and felt his own eyes get misty. He suddenly felt weak and powerless to help anybody. His legs started to shake under the weight of his grief, but Ryo-oki's meow brought him back to the present situation. He turned to get the girls on their feet, but while Ryoko was making little attempt to keep her emotions at bay, Washu had her eyes closed and her expressions frozen in concentration.  
  
Washu's eyes slowly opened and leveled with Tenchi's, " We're taking the body with us."  
  
With no time to even comment on the course of action, Washu had moved Ryoko off of Knucks' chest and had him slung over her shoulder. Ryo-oki knew the drill and transformed while she beamed everybody aboard.   
  
Washu landed and placed Knucks' body on the floor. She felt physical pain from letting him go, but she had to rely on her sister's abilities for now. She walked over to Ryoko and still saw tears in her eyes, ' We need you to get us home Ryoko. There's no need to grieve now.'  
  
Ryoko heard her mothers call in her head, ' There is every reason to grieve right now! Knucks is dead because he tried to save us! It was our fault!'  
  
Washu hated it when her daughter cried. She rarely every did, and it was over the most serious of things, but they couldn't spare the time to talk about it further. She kneeled down and pressed her head against her heartbroken daughter's, 'I promise you that he isn't dead, but we need to get home if we ever want that to be true. Save him by taking us home, hurry!'  
  
Ryoko felt happiness in her heart when she least expected it, but still thought it sounded to good to be true, 'Are you sure?'  
  
Ryoko's desperate voice saddened Washu, but they were on a tight schedule, 'Yes, but not if we just stay here and play twenty questions all day.'  
  
Ryoko felt a surge of hope and got to her feet. She teleported to her command post and urged Ryo-oki forward. She looked over her shoulder at Knucks' cold body and felt a short pang of doubt, but wiped here tears away on the sleeve of her battle suit and tried her hardest to focus on the stars.  
  
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The darkness of Knucks' mind broke away to a long tunnel of color and images of various life forms. Knucks stood over the pipe of color and tried to recognize a few of the images, but he was sucked into the hole and pulled down the pipe of existence. He started tumbling head over heels through the long tunneling, making out a few of the images as long lost memories, but missing most of the streaming images to confusion. He suddenly stopped tumbling and fell head first into the abyss. The varied images of everything from his childhood to his last drinking excursion now melted away and only one of his more recent memories was left behind. The circular tunnel was now filled with the memory of Kagato's death, and his own. The image came very slowly, and his body and mind were in the same state at that moment as they were when the memory took place. He felt the solid weight of an invisible sword in his hands, the perspiration on his forehead, the surge of unknown power, the pure determination from his heart to succeed, and his fearlessness of the situation.   
  
The image came to the point of their death, but there was something wrong with the scene. The tunnel froze suddenly and left Knucks suspended upside down staring at the image, and he saw Kagato's light sword still half way from his body when he gave him the finishing blow. Knucks looked closely, and saw a second weapon in Kagato's left hand that had ended his life. This shocked him, but with little he could do now, he brushed the feeling away.   
  
He wondered why the tunnel was still unmoving, and tried to wiggle his body right side up. He couldn't budge against the invisible force, but caught a glimpse of something while trying to move. His eyes locked with the figure in the memory that he hadn't noticed before. Ryoko had been watching them at that moment, with her eyes as large as saucers and hand outreached towards the combatants as if she was to be the one to end the fight for them.   
  
The sight of her fear and surprise saddened Knucks considerably, and the tunnel began to move again, once again flowing towards the unknown. The colors were no longer flowing as before, instead, their was considerably bright light coming from one end of the tunnel. He was heading into the light head first, unbeknownst to what lay on the other side of the light filled end to the tunnel.  
  
-----  
  
Knucks lay still on a floating piece of glass, lost in his own mind. A small tickling sensation snapped him to attention and he sat up in a flash. He swatted at his nose to quell the tickling and saw a light filled fluff seed fly away. A quick look around confirmed his suspicion, he was back on Tsunami's ship. How he got there was a mystery in itself, but this visit was entirely more welcome than the last. This visit had no urgency to it at all. He no longer had anyone to save and all was well, but he wanted to see his friends again.  
  
Knucks' mind drifted back to his colorful dream. The long tunnel of memories, but he thought more about the last memory he saw. He kept telling himself that there wasn't a place in Ryoko's heart for him and that he was going to leave Tenchi's house sooner or later. That was his brain talking, but his heart told him that Ryoko missed him even now and that he would never leave his friends.   
  
Knucks reached down into the stream of running water, but his hand never felt the dampness of the water. His hand was entirely engulfed in the running water, but he couldn't even feel the cool sensation of it. He jerked his hand out of the stream and his hand was as dry as when it had entered the water. This was a little too weird for Knucks' liking, but a voice rang out suddenly that redirected his attention, " You look surprised. I thought that showing you your own death would indeed tell you that you are dead."  
  
Knucks saw Tsunami walk out from behind the giant tree and deliver the news, " I...actually died?" Tsunami shook her head as she walked forward, " But how? I was so much stronger than him. It doesn't make sense."  
  
Tsunami was surprised at how lightly he had taken the news of his own death, " I told you that he had already discovered his weapon, and he used it to defeat you, deception. He made you think that he was inferior to you in skill, and just like that, you were to focused on one weapon to see the other."  
  
Knucks heard Tsunami's voice, but the blank words barely registered in his mind. He wondered for a moment if saving their lives was worth his own, and he responded with an immediate yes. He had no more regrets, and he guessed that dying right now, however inconvenient, wouldn't be as bad as he thought. He would've loved to live a long life with his friends at Tenchi's house, and maybe even with Ryoko at his side, but he couldn't do anything to change his destiny now.  
  
" What are you thinking about?"  
  
Knucks raised his head at Tsunami's question, " Just trying to decide whether or not I was ready for this."  
  
Tsunami reached down and placed her hand on his head, " Nobody is ever ready to die, nor is death ever ready to be received. People say that they've lived full and complete lives and that they welcome death, but there is always something that you don't accomplish. Never have I met a person whose live was truly complete, and you do not live long enough to have any such life. You have many things left undone in your life, but the best part about your life is that it isn't over yet."  
  
Knucks now paid attention to Tsunami when he heard that his life wasn't over yet, " What do you mean?"  
  
Tsunami removed her hand and walked towards the tree, " I'm just saying that life after death is a very, very rare thing, and I would hate to see you waste your afterlife in oblivion. You have to tell me something before I can think about giving you this privilege."  
  
Knucks got to his feet and jogged over to the tree, " Yes what do you want to know."  
  
Tsunami felt his emotions running wild again, but they were happier than the last time she felt them flare up, " Tell me what you plan to do with your life if I give it back to you."  
  
Knucks froze on this question. What would he do with his life back? Would he go on with his life as if he had never died, or would he leave everybody to become a slobbering drunk again? He had told himself the answer to that question hundreds of times, and now should be no different, " I would stay at Tenchi's house and be with my friends. I've got my revenge and now I'm gonna settle down with them."  
  
Tsunami nodded her head and raised the light in the room. She knew that he would remain faithful to them through thick and thin, and knew that he would give his life for anybody in that house, " You realize of course that they lead far from normal lives? You will more than likely not have a single peaceful day there."  
  
Knucks smiled, " That's what makes that place great."  
  
Tsunami smiled and prepared to transfer his soul to his body, " Then go to them. We will meet again."  
  
Knucks was swept off his feet again, but it was a little weirder and faster than before. He saw stars fly past his head at hyper-space speed and felt the heat of the atmosphere on his face. A second later and he was scraping the tops of mountains and melting the snow on their ice caps. A look down showed him the tops of buildings and the people that looked ant sized moving past his plane of vision at tremendous speeds. Those sights quickly gave way to the vast blue oceans of the Earth. The coastline on the horizon came quickly, as did the wilderness and lakes. The force of his flight slowed and lowered him closer to the ground. He saw the dusk ready to break out with the dawn, but it held on to a bit of darkness as if its life depended on it.   
  
Knucks saw his destination and felt excitement manifest itself in a wide smile on his face. He slowed further the closer he came to the house and was set down right outside of his goal. He walked right through the door, and laid eyes on his own body. There was nobody else in the room, and he guessed that they were all in Washu's lab for their injuries. He touched his own forehead, or went right through it rather, and knew that he couldn't wait for his life back.   
  
Knucks laid on top of his own body, and was absorbed into it. He half expected to fall straight to the floor, but he stuck in his body and he felt the soft couch on his back. He felt the cool winter air in the house and also felt his warm breath travel past his lips as he exhaled. He opened his eyes to the darkroom, the only light coming from a lone candle on the table. Knucks assumed that the candle was a sign of his passing, or it could've been set there to show his soul the way back. He shook of the thoughts and put the candle out with his hand, and he pulled it away once the burning sensation took hold. He never thought he would be so happy to be burnt.  
  
Knucks got up and walked around the room a few times, trying not to trip over everything, before opening the screen door and walking outside. The sun was now barley breaking the horizon of mountains and trees, shining down on the ice covered lake in front of him, reflecting the radiant light in a million different directions. His frozen surroundings did the same, making him feel as if he had a bright flash light in a house of mirrors. Icicles that hung from the rooftop and snow that covered the ground, both showing the light so magnificently, but being slowly melted by it as this very sunrise commenced.   
  
Knucks' attention was diverted to the inside of the house as he heard a door close, and he saw Tenchi staring right back at him. He wasn't to sure which emotions were represented by the look on Tenchi's face, but he suspected that surprise was one of them. He couldn't help but smile as he now knew that he wasn't just dreaming.   
  
" Wha? How? Knucks?"  
  
Tenchi stammered away as Knucks walked through the doorway and towards his friend. Tenchi lunged at his friend and hugged him tightly. Knucks returned the hug as the rest of the girls walked through Washu's door and stared as Tenchi hugged a man that should be dead.   
  
Knucks stared into the eyes of his new family and knew now that he wasn't dreaming, he was back. He looked into Ryoko's face and saw her happiness, and felt his heart warm, but then thought of what might've happened if he had indeed left them. He shook off the thoughts and focused on the happiness of the moment.  
  
  
  
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Knucks threw another rock and watched it skip across the frozen pond before sitting on the snowy ground. He tried to relive the feelings he had felt over the past few hours as the winter sun set in the west. The day had flown by once the realization of his return had set in. Sasami had made a monstrous feast, with the help of the rest of the family because of her wounds, and the screaming didn't stop there. That's all that Ayeka and Ryoko did all through the wonderful meal, and all of that bickering over the last bit of rice!   
  
After the meal, Knucks enlightened them all with his escapade with Tsunami. They all had questions for hi, but he couldn't really answer them clearly. He doubted that he would ever understand the conversation Tsunami and himself had, and he wasn't going to fry his brain trying to.   
  
The highlight of his day was when Washu and Tenchi both approached him and asked him to talk alone. While they did this separate, Knucks could've sworn that they had practiced the same speech together. They both described their apologetic feelings toward him and both promised him their trust for the rest of their friendship. He couldn't help but forgive them and give them the same trust and respect.   
  
The rest of the day was all laughter and fun, but now, as darkness and the temperature fell, Knucks was the only one awake. The rest of the gang had been to tired to stay up any longer. A smile played across his face as he heard footsteps behind him, " I thought you hated the cold?"  
  
Ryoko teleported the remaining distance between herself and her man, " Yeah, well, I also thought you were dead back there. Guess that's why I don't think a lot."  
  
Knucks chuckled as he looked at Ryoko, or what he could see of her under the blankets, and stood the meet her, " Yeah, well, things have a way of working out I guess. Sorry I'm back?"  
  
Ryoko removed all of the cloth from her head and looked him square in the eye, " Nothing has made me happier than seeing you alive again."  
  
Knucks smiled as he leaned in for a kiss under the cold stars.  
  
---  
  
" He has failed you my master. Kagato was weak, and he was going to betray you when he got the gems anyway. Why you placed this job to him I'll-"  
  
"SILENCE SLAVE! Kagato's loss was a minor one and, for your sake, you'd better pray that you do not fail as horribly as he did!"  
  
The hooded figure stepped into a near by shadow and was gone. A woman stood from her throne and walked through the gloomy room to her chambers. The doors burst open, revealing a large crystal orb that had Kagato's slayer's picture on the front of it, " Now you will face the wrath of my full power!!"  
  
  
  
* Author's note  
  
I would like to thank everybody that reviewed, no, everybody that read my story, glanced at my story or every thought about reading my story. You guys have been patient with my story and my not being able to get the chapters out promptly, and not to many people can put up with me. Lol. The little thing at the end kinda sets up my next story, and I want to know if you want to read it. I would love to hear anyone's opinion on me doing a second piece, and not just a ya or nay, I would like your true opinion about this little writing. You can bless it to the gates of heaven or damn it to the pits of hell, I'll just sit here and nod my head. 


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